


Nebula

by lujdlu



Category: A.C.E (Beat Interactive Band), ACE (kpop), K-pop
Genre: Alternate Universe, Chaptered, Comedy, Eventual Romance, Fluff, Guys please love and support A.C.E!!, I have the entire plot for this figured out so don't worry I will definitely finish it, M/M, My First Fanfic, domestic!Dongjun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-13
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2018-11-13 16:56:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 60,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11189397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lujdlu/pseuds/lujdlu
Summary: In a world where everyone loves and adores idols, no one ever pays attention to the backup dancers.What happens when a seemingly random group of boys are brought together to be backup dancers for a top idol group's summer tour? Follow the five of them as they practice, travel, and get through shit together. Friendships bloom, relationships crumble, and things get strangely domestic - they are living together, after all.(Alternatively titled: the backup dancer au no one asked for but here it is anyway)





	1. In the Beginning

Taking a deep breath, Yoochan stepped through the large glass doors of King Entertainment, heart nearly pounding out of his chest. 

Just two weeks ago he had stepped through these very same doors, considerably more nervous than he was right now. He had been awed by the infrastructure – walls made entirely of floor-to-ceiling glass windows, white marble flooring and countertops, a giant glowing slideshow behind reception of different celebrity portraits, each one seemingly glaring down at him. Ignoring the growing feeling of dread in his stomach, he had joined the other hopefuls in a line that seemed to go on forever.

King Entertainment had posted an announcement on their main website about a month ago:

_“Looking to hire: One (1) backup dancer for NOVA Summer Tour, male, 18-25 years old”_

What had followed was a list of audition information, and Yoochan’s excited squealing.

Two weeks after the audition here he was, walking through the familiar lobby a second time. It wasn’t any less impressive than the first – the floors were still marble, the slideshow still glaring. However, this time Yoochan’s heart was pounding for a completely different reason. He was going to meet NOVA! NOVA, the biggest boygroup in all of Korea (and in Yoochan’s humble opinion, the best). The five members were at their peak – enjoying worldwide recognition, endless commercial promotion, award after award after award. Yoochan had been a fan since day one, mesmerized by their choreography and the way their bodies moved to the music, and it was like a dream come true to be able to dance with them on their tour. He still wasn’t sure how _he_ had been selected from the audition. Sure, he loved to dance and danced whenever he could in his spare time, but he was still just a college student, and he was sure there were way more qualified people auditioning that day. _Maybe they liked my boyish charm_ , he thought, grinning to himself.

He stopped in front of room 104. This is it. This is the room the receptionist had told him to go to. Taking a deep breath and quickly patting down his unruly blonde hair, he opened the door.

\-------------

_“This is bullshit!”_

Seyoon threw his towel on the ground, running a hand through his hair.

“Now, Seyoon, please understand—“

“Understand what?” He laughed bitterly. “That you were leading us on this whole time? That all of us here were working our asses off every day, not eating enough, not sleeping enough, and you never had intentions for us to debut?”

“Seyoon…” Another trainee stepped forward hesitantly, but Seyoon raised a hand to cut him off. 

“Why would you even keep training us,” Seyoon asked, breathing heavily, “when you knew you were going bankrupt? Why not just cut us from the beginning and save us years of trouble?”

Manager Lee sighed. “We thought we’d be able to work things out,” he said. Seyoon laughed again, eyes cold. “We thought with the latest comeback, and by making a few contracts…” he shook his head. “Listen, I know you’re disappointed,” a few trainees grumbled under their breaths. “And I’m very sorry, but ABE Ent. is officially announcing bankruptcy. You are all very talented individuals, and I’m sure you’ll find your futures elsewhere.” There was an apologetic hint to his tone, and Seyoon decided not to push it any further. 

The trainees filed out of the practice room one by one, with Manager Lee bowing to each one as they left. Seyoon loitered behind. He didn’t want to leave. He had spent two years slaving away in this small, cramped practice room, working tirelessly and to no end. He had thought it would all be worth it once he debuted. This was just a small obstacle to reaching his dream, which was to dance and share his love of dancing with the world. Too bad that dream will never be realized.

“Seyoon.”

Seyoon glanced up at Manager Lee’s voice. He was still in the room, probably waiting for everyone to leave so he can turn off the lights and lock the door one last time. “Yes?”

“I have something to tell you,” Manager Lee said, walking up to him. “You know you’re our best dancer, right? You have a lot of potential, and if we had debuted another boygroup, you would have been at the top of our list.”

“Why are you telling me this now?” Seyoon muttered. 

“I’m telling you this because this is not the end.” Seyoon looked up at this, and Manager Lee placed a hand on Seyoon’s shoulder. “When we started losing money, we signed a deal with King Entertainment.”

Seyoon said nothing, but his eyes widened just a bit. King Entertainment? 

“We were extremely lucky. When they heard about our bankruptcy, they offered to take one of our trainees, and I immediately recommended you.”

“Are you serious?” Seyoon stared at Manager Lee. “King Entertainment? The company NOVA’s under?”

Manager Lee nodded. “There’s a catch, though.” Seyoon sighed. Of course there is. “They’ll only take you in as a backup dancer.”

“Why would I want to be a backup dancer?” Seyoon frowned. 

“Do you know why I recommended you, Seyoon?”

“Because I’m the best dancer?”

“Don’t sound so smug,” Manager Lee laughed. “Why are you doing this, Seyoon? Why are you training? Isn’t it so you can do what you love, dance?” Seyoon nodded, silent. “Do you know why the other trainees were here?” Seyoon paused, then shook his head. “To be famous. That’s why they trained. They wanted to sing, to dance, and to be famous. But you’re not like that. You don’t really care about the fame, you just want to do what you love. And so that’s why I recommended you,” Manager Lee smiled and patted Seyoon’s shoulder. “Because I know you’ll say yes.”

“I guess,” Seyoon frowned. “But that’s a bit unfair, isn’t it? I’ve already gone through all the training to be an idol. If I debut, don’t I at least deserve to debut as an idol?”

“Hm. I’ll tell you what. They’ll be putting you on the dance team for NOVA’s Asia tour. I’m sure if they see the effort that you put into your work, they won’t hesitate to take you in as an idol trainee for their next boygroup. You just have to prove to them you’re good enough.”

“I’m too old.”

“You’re twenty-two.”

“Too old.”

Manager Lee shook his head. “Just trust me. Go to King Entertainment, tell them your name, and do your best.” He held up a fist. “I’m rooting for you.”

“And if I say no?” Seyoon challenged, crossing his arms, but he already knew what his answer was, and so did Manager Lee, who patted him on the head and pushed him out the door.

\-------------

“One, two, three, four – no, Hun, it’s left foot first. Left foot – like this, Hun. One, two, three, fo – no, left foot –”

“Argh!” Donghun plopped down on the ground in a fit of frustration, and Junhee followed suit, amused. “I’m never gonna get this.”

“Don’t say that, Hun,” Junhee said, patting his back. “Remember when you said you couldn’t do the dubstep remix last month? You figured it out eventually.”

“The dubstep remix was a minute long. This is an entire concert,” Donghun groaned, looking dejected. “Why’d they choose me, anyway? They know I can’t dance.”

“Now now, I don’t want to hear those words coming from King Ent’s top trainee,” said Junhee teasingly. 

Donghun scoffed. “Everyone knows you’re the top trainee around here, Junhee. You already have modelling offers and CF deals and you haven’t even debuted yet.”

“Don’t forget the flocks of adoring fans outside the building every day.” Junhee’s eyes twinkled. Donghun smacked him on the head.

“I don’t think they’re here for you, you idiot,” he grinned. Junhee grinned too and stood up, offering a hand to Donghun, who took it.

“C’mon, Hun, up! Let’s try the routine again, I’m sure this time you’ll get it.”

Donghun and Junhee practicing together in the company’s small practice room wasn’t an uncommon sight. Known as quite the inseparable pair, the two trainees did almost everything together. It was the same routine every day – wake up at six (the two shared a room in a downtown apartment), get washed, eat (they alternated cooking because the only thing Junhee made was ramen), make the thirty-minute commute to the King Ent. building, and practice until either they can’t stand anymore or the cleaning lady kicks them out. 

It had been like this for the past two years, ever since Junhee joined the label. Having a cousin in one of the most popular boygroups of all time was an incredible connection and basically guaranteed Junhee a spot as a trainee when he auditioned. Not that the boy didn’t deserve it – he was widely regarded as the most promising trainee King Entertainment had to offer, and within two years he had built up an impressive fanbase and an even more impressive reputation.

Donghun, on the other hand, was Junhee’s senior by four years. He had joined King Entertainment when he was seventeen years old, back then still in high school and having to juggle training on top of his schoolwork. Six years later here he was, still with no debut in sight, and it was hard to stay positive and hopeful. But when you’ve dedicated six years of your life to something like training, how could you back out now? And so Donghun stayed, and Junhee kept him company as they did the same thing over and over, day by day, year by year. 

The door to the practice room creaked open and a blonde head poked in. “Hello?”

“Left foot, Hun! Lef –” Junhee and Donghun both paused and turned to the sound of someone’s voice. 

The door opened all the way, revealing a pale, small boy with a head of bleach blonde hair. “Ah, hello, my name is –”

“Kim Byeongkwan,” Junhee beamed, startling the newcomer. “I’ve seen you around, it’s an honour.”

Byeongkwan grinned as well, face lighting up and walking toward the other two. “You kidding? The honour is mine if I get to meet the great Park Junhee, trainee of the century.” Junhee shook his head and waved his arm around, clearly happy about the compliment.

“Wait, you’re Kim Byeongkwan?” Donghun asked in surprise. 

Byeongkwan nodded. “The one and only.”

Donghun smiled. “Dude, we’ve heard so much about you. Didn’t you choreograph NOVA’s latest comeback? And MISStory’s debut?” 

MISStory was NOVA’s little sister group, debuted just last year. Their debut had received mixed responses from fans – some adored the girls, while others were either unsure about their concept or jealous that they got to be so close to the NOVA members. Either way, the debut was widely talked about and MISStory ended up number one on the music charts four weeks straight. 

Byeongkwan rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah. Just those two though, I’m still pretty new here.” He gestured vaguely around the room. 

“Well, I’m Lee Donghun, a trainee here. It’s nice to meet you.”

Byeongkwan bowed. “I’m here because Manager Kim asked me to get you two. We’re having a meeting. I take it you guys are gonna be backup dancers for Tour Galaxie too?”

“Is that what it’s called?” Junhee asked as he began gathering up his and Donghun’s things, Donghun unplugging the sound system. “Wait, are you choreographing for the tour?”

“Only some of it.” Byeongkwan helped Junhee with a gym bag he was struggling to hold. “I’ll actually be dancing with you guys!”

Junhee nearly dropped the bag. “Really? You’re dancing with us? Did you hear that, Hun?" He called. "Kim Byeongkwan is dancing with us!” Donghun nodded in amusement and took the bag from both of them, slinging it over his shoulders. 

“Let’s go,” he said. “Byeongkwan, you lead the way.”

\-------------

Yoochan fiddled with his nametag. It had been what felt like hours since that boy, Kim Byeongkwan, had left to get the other dancers, leaving him in a stuffy, silent meeting room with the manager and two other staff members. 

He cleared his throat. “So, erm,” he said, trying to make conversation. All heads turned to look at him. _This was not a good idea._ “Erm, how many songs will we learn for the concert?”

“We will go over all the details once the meeting begins,” Manager Kim replied shortly, eyes back to his clipboard.

“Okay,” Yoochan whispered, shuffling more in his seat. 

After what seemed like an eternity later, the door opened and three boys walked in. Manager Kim looked up and finally cracked a smile upon seeing them. 

“Junhee, welcome. Donghun. I see you two have met Byeongkwan. Have you met Yoochan?”

Bows were taken and greetings were exchanged before everyone sat back down at the meeting table. Manager Kim glanced at his watch. 

“We’re running five minutes late,” he tsked, and Donghun sank back in his seat a little. Manager Kim turned to the other two staff members. “Has anyone heard from Seyoon?” No one said anything, and he tsked again. “Well, I guess we’ll start without him.”

He immediately slammed his clipboard down on the table with a loud “bang!” At least three different people jumped in their seats. 

“Welcome,” Manager Kim boomed, clapping his hands together. Yoochan blinked. Was this the same broody man that sat there just a few minutes ago? “I think you all know why we’re here today. Congratulations on being the select few to be chosen to be backup dancers for NOVA’s summer tour, Tour Galaxie!” Here he paused as if he was expecting applause, and Yoochan hesitantly clapped once before one of the other staff members shot him a look. He quickly sat on his hands. 

“Tour Galaxie is an Asia tour, mostly centered around Korea, China, and Japan, with the addition of other countries such as Singapore and Philippines,” Manager Kim continued. “It will take place over the course of four months, in thirty different cities. That means thirty shows, which means around two full concerts per week. You boys had better be prepared to work hard.”

“Yes, sir!” Junhee called out, causing Donghun to give him a nudge with his elbow. Manager Kim and the other two staff members smiled at him. Yoochan was starting to sense some favouritism here. 

“Today is February 2nd. The first show of the tour is May 4th. That means that you have just over three months to learn, practice, and perfect the set list. Of course, you will not be dancing the entire concert,” here, Manager Kim paused to rifle through some papers on his clipboard. He unclipped four pages and handed one to each dancer. “This is a set list for the concert. As you can see, you’ll be dancing for around half the performances, and for some we may not need all of you, while for others we’ll add a few more dancers. Most of the time, though, it should just be you four, plus the dancer that decided to go MIA today.”

As if on cue, the door to the meeting room flung open. Said dancer was standing in the doorway, breathing heavily and looking slightly frazzled. He pushed his hair back from his eyes and bowed, not particularly looking at anyone in the room. 

“Kim Seyoon. Nice of you to finally join us.” Manager Kim placed his clipboard down on the desk and folded his hands together, and Kim Seyoon bowed again.

“I’m sorry I’m late. It won’t happen again.”

Yoochan gave the newcomer a quick glance-over. He was wearing black shoes, black jeans, and a black hoodie with red lettering. His hair was jet black, and now that he had caught his breath again his face was impossibly inexpressive. 

Seyoon grabbed an empty chair and took a seat, and Manager Kim sighed before quickly giving an overview of everything he had already talked about. 

“Now, this is where we left off before we were interrupted,” he shot a glance at Seyoon, who had the decency to look a little apologetic. “Since the first concert date is fast approaching, we’d like it if you dedicate as much time as possible to practicing. Therefore, we’ve set aside another dorm room in the trainee building, so that the three of you,” he gestured to Yoochan, Byeongkwan, and Seyoon, “may find it convenient to commute to the practice room every day, especially since some of you live outside of Seoul.” Manager Kim nodded at one of the staff members, a tall, slim woman with her hair tied in a tight ponytail. “This is your main choreographer and dance coach, Lim Nara. She, along with Byeongkwan, choreographed all the dances you will be learning, and she is the one who will oversee your training.”

“I look forward to working with you,” Lim Nara bowed. “Of course, if you ever have questions during training don’t hesitate to ask me. Or you could ask your teammate Byeongkwan, since he’s quite familiar with a number of the dances already.” At this, Byeongkwan flashed a quick grin at the other four boys, and Yoochan grinned back, impressed. 

After going through a few more details, Manager Kim announced the end of the meeting with another slam of his clipboard. “Here are the keys to the new room,” he said, handing Yoochan, Byeongkwan, and Seyoon each a key. “Junhee and Donghun can lead you to the apartment. The two rooms should be neighbouring each other – 201 and 202. I expect all five of you in practice room three tomorrow morning at eight AM sharp, no exceptions.” He shot another glance at Seyoon, who didn’t seem perturbed this time. “I wish you luck, and congratulations once again at this opportunity.” 

\-------------

“I guess you’ll have to find a time to properly move in,” Donghun said as they made their way to the subway station. "I'm sure you'll have lots of things you'll need from home."

Byeongkwan shrugged. “It’s fine. That can wait ‘till the weekend. What’s the place like anyway?”

“Oh, it’s great! You’ll love it!” Junhee practically bounced, and Yoochan found himself grinning at the other boy’s energy. “It is pretty small, and there’s not much stuff, and you probably won’t get to spend much time there anyway, but it’s just great living with a good friend, isn’t it, Hunnie?” Donghun rolled his eyes but nodded, smiling. 

They rode down the escalator into the subway station and stood by the tracks, watching the subway drive in. “Say, Seyoon, why were you so late today?” Byeongkwan asked curiously as it came to a stop. Seyoon didn’t show any sign of having heard him, and instead walked in and took a seat the moment the doors slid open. The other four glanced at each other before shrugging and following him in.

On the ride home, Byeongkwan hummed a NOVA song under his breath, hands twitching along to the rhythm. Junhee and Donghun were in their own little world, muttering and laughing to one another. Seyoon was sitting in the seat at the very end of the row, face stone and looking away from everyone else.

 _This is gonna be an interesting few months_ , Yoochan thought to himself as the doors slid open and shut behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!!! Welcome to my first fanfic!! (pls go easy on me)
> 
> I actually have big plans for this fic. It is first and foremost just a silly AU, but there will be actual plot and stuff to keep the story going! I just love au fics where everyone becomes friends and just does random stuff together ok
> 
> If you wanna chat hmu on my a.c.e tumblr, @kim-seyooned !!


	2. Of Pickles and Mysteries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys go to their first practice. Byeongkwan likes to observe people. Dongjun are cute, Yoochan is a baby, and Seyoon is weird.

It had been two days since they all moved into the dorm room, and Byeongkwan had already learned a lot about his new dormmates.

Yoochan, for instance, ate once every two hours. The boy was a bottomless pit. On the very first day they moved in, Byeongkwan returned home to find a fridge stocked completely with frozen pizzas and leftover takeout. Yoochan had insisted it wasn’t all his, until Byeongkwan pointed out that Seyoon had been out all day and that left no other options, and Yoochan relented. (“I’m a growing boy, I dance all day, where do you think my energy comes from?”)

Junhee and Donghun were completely attached at the hip. Where Donghun went, Junhee followed, and where Junhee went, Donghun was dragged along. It was like Donghun owned a five-foot-nine, brown-haired puppy. _Actually, I’m not sure who owns who here,_ Byeongkwan thought to himself in amusement as he spread some peanut butter on a piece of toast.

He checked his phone. It was currently 7:15 AM, which meant they’d have to leave for practice in fifteen minutes, and Yoochan _still_ wasn’t awake. 

“Yoochan!” Byeongkwan called, knocking lightly on the boy’s door. There was no answer, so Byeongkwan knocked a bit harder. “Yoochan, it’s time to get up!”

A muffled noise came from inside the room and the door creaked open, revealing a yawning Yoochan, bleary-eyed and hair sticking out in all directions. Byeongkwan felt something brush against his leg and yelped, jumping up.

“Yoochan, what is _that_?”

Yoochan yawned again. “P-p-pickles.” He rubbed his eyes.

“What?” Byeongkwan furrowed his eyebrows. “Pickles?”

“Pickles, my kitty.” Yoochan bent over and picked Pickles up, absent-mindedly petting its head and cracking a smile.

Byeongkwan blinked. “That’s a _cat_?” The thing looked like a giant rat that grew hair. It seemed to understand him because it stuck its tail out and hissed. 

“I know she’s not the prettiest kitty, but she has a pretty heart,” Yoochan cooed, scratching under the thing’s chin. Its purring sounded like a broken tractor.

Byeongkwan snorted. “Are you even allowed to have that thing in here?” He asked, taking a step back when it hissed again. Yoochan shushed it and gave Byeongkwan a look.

“If you don’t tell, then yeah.”

Byeongkwan chuckled and shook his head. “Secret’s safe with me.” He checked his phone, which was buzzing with a text from Junhee.

**\---Saturday, February 5, 7:24 AM---**  
**Park Junhee:** meet outside ur apartment in 5! ^-^

Byeongkwan typed out a quick “cya!” and shoved a piece of toast into Yoochan’s mouth.

“Wha-mph?”

“Hurry!” Byeongkwan called over his shoulder as he rushed back to the kitchen to clean up his mess. “We have five minutes before we meet the others and leave!” He heard a strangled noise come from Yoochan’s direction, accompanied by a door slam and a yowl from Pickles.

Five minutes later, a grinning Byeongkwan and a jittery Yoochan emerged from apartment 202 (Byeongkwan had handed him a mug of coffee, which Yoochan had downed completely in one gulp). Junhee and Donghun were already waiting outside, Junhee with his chin on Donghun’s right shoulder and one hand in each of Donghun’s coat pockets. His face lit up when he saw them. “Hey, guys!” Yoochan waved back as Byeongkwan finished locking the front door.

Donghun carefully removed Junhee’s hands from his pockets and turned to lead them out the apartment. “You guys ready for our first official day of practice?”

“Oh boy, am I ever! I’m so ready! I’m so _pumped_!” Yoochan hollered, full of energy as he sprinted down the stairs to the main entrance. Donghun gave Byeongkwan a questioning glance.

“He chugged a coffee this morning,” Byeongkwan shrugged. “Or maybe he’s always like this. I don’t know.”

Junhee stealthily stuck a hand back in Donghun’s pocket as they exited the building. If Donghun noticed, he didn’t say anything. “Where’s the other one?” Junhee asked, scratching his ear.

“Seyoon? I don’t think he was here when we woke up, was he?” Yoochan pursed his lips. “Maybe he’s already at the practice room.”

And then there was Kim Seyoon, the fourth dormmate. Byeongkwan didn’t know what to make of him – quite frankly, Kim Seyoon was a mystery. Upon moving his things in, he had immediately left the dorm without a word or even a glance at the rest of the boys. Byeongkwan thought he caught a glimpse of black hair in the kitchen later that day in the afternoon, but by the time he went to the fridge to grab himself a slice of Yoochan’s pizza the other boy was gone again. 

Something else that puzzled him about Seyoon was that no one knew where he had come from, or how he had been taken in by King Entertainment. Obviously, Junhee and Donghun were already trainees there, and Yoochan had told him yesterday all about his audition for the position. Seyoon, though? He appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

Byeongkwan knew absolutely nothing about him, and that intrigued him. 

\-------------

“We’re here!”

Junhee gestured to a white door sporting a large, golden “3” with a dramatic flourish of his hands. “Welcome to your home for the next three months.”

“It sounds like somebody’s already in it?” Yoochan observed. 

He was right. Music was faintly booming from inside the room, the heavy bass just barely vibrating when Byeongkwan put his hand on the doorknob. He opened the door and peered in, the other three also looking curiously inside over his shoulder.

Any doubts Byeongkwan had of Seyoon’s sudden appearance at King Entertainment immediately vanished. There he was, hair sticking to his forehead, already covered in sweat and panting even though it was only eight in the morning. Byeongkwan watched, mesmerized, as Seyoon glared his own reflection down in the mirror and moved more precisely than Byeongkwan could have ever imagined. 

No wonder King Entertainment had so gladly taken him in. When he danced, Kim Seyoon was water and ice, so sharp in his movements and yet so fluid in his execution. Byeongkwan, as a professional dancer, could only stand and stare.

That is, until Junhee shoved him into the room. He let out a yelp and turned around to glare at Junhee, who cocked his head to the side and shrugged. “What? You weren’t moving.”

Seyoon had noticed the other boys’ presence now and had stopped dancing. Byeongkwan felt a twinge of embarrassment and what strangely seemed to be disappointment? He shook his head and walked into the room.

Yoochan was looking around in awe, clearly not used to being inside an actual entertainment company’s practice room. Byeongkwan smiled as he remembered his first time coming here not being too different, either. Before he had been discovered, he had only ever seen this famous practice room by watching NOVA’s dance videos online, so finally getting to see it in real life was definitely a surreal experience. 

“Hey, Seyoon, we missed you in the morning, man,” said Donghun, dropping his stuff off at the side of the room. Yoochan nodded vigorously, doing the same. 

“Yeah, why’d you leave so early? We could’ve all walked here together!”

Seyoon bowed his head in the slightest of bows. “Sorry.” He didn’t sound very sorry.

“What were you dancing just now?” Byeongkwan cut in. “Did you choreograph that yourself?”

Seyoon paused a bit before replying with a simple, “Yes,” and turning back around to face himself in the mirror. Byeongkwan frowned and opened his mouth to continue, but the opening of the door interrupted him before he could say anything else.

In walked Lim Nara, dressed head to toe in workout clothing and with her hair tied up in her signature tight ponytail. The five boys immediately stopped what they were doing to bow and greet her. She waved a hand around dismissively. “No need for formalities,” she said, placing her bag on the ground and wrapping a towel around her neck. “No one has time for those when we’re here to work, work, work.” She clapped her hands together and took a deep breath, looking around. “You boys ready to sweat today?”

A resounding “Yes!” echoed around the room. Lim Nara grinned.

“Good.” She walked over to the sound system and placed a disc into the CD player before taking her spot at the front of the room, looking back at the other five’s reflections through the mirror. “We’ll be doing high difficulty right from the very beginning. Manager Kim personally hand-picked all of you, so I have high expectations, alright?” Byeongkwan heard Donghun take a deep breath behind him. Lim Nara clapped her hands together again.

“Alright then, let’s jump right in. Follow me. One, two, three, four…”

\-------------

“Oww.” 

Junhee laughed half-heartedly. “Well, that was…interesting.”

To say their first practice had gone poorly was an understatement. Somehow in the midst of everything Junhee had twisted an ankle, Donghun had bumped into Seyoon causing Seyoon to trip over a rogue wire and disconnect the entire sound system, and Yoochan had loudly and painfully slammed his knee into the corner of a desk at the side of the room mid-twirl. Currently there was an ugly, purple bruise spreading across the skin of his leg and everyone winced just looking at it. Even Byeongkwan, who had already learned part of the choreography they did today, just could not get the hang of one part of it, and the group had to repeat the dance an embarrassing twelve times before he managed to do the steps correctly.

“Thank god Nara let us out early,” Donghun breathed. “I don’t think I could’ve taken another minute of that.” Yoochan nodded in agreement.

Sensing the dejected atmosphere, Byeongkwan patted Donghun on the back. “Hey, we all have our bad days,” he reasoned. “Today was only our first practice, of course it’s gonna be rough. Honestly, for a first day, that was pretty good.”

“Whatever you say, Mr. Dance Coach,” Junhee grinned. “If you say we were pretty good, then we were pretty good.”

The chatter continued on the rest of the commute back to the dorms. Seyoon as usual stayed silent, gaze fixed on the road before him and nowhere else. At this point, Byeongkwan was starting to get used to it.

\-------------

Donghun moved aside a hamper in the bathroom. “You see? It’s this door.” He unlocked it and pulled it open, revealing the bathroom of apartment 202. “Every two rooms in this building are actually connected. That’s what makes it so good to be used for trainee dorms.”

Yoochan stuck his head through the doorway. “That _is_ cool but…why the bathroom? Isn’t that kind of an awkward placement?”

Donghun shrugged. “Beats me. We’ll keep this door open from now on. You’ll just have to close two doors each time you go, but just think of it as an enlarged restroom.”

Junhee came up behind Donghun and assumed his favourite position of chin on shoulder, arms around waist. “Hun, it’s getting late, let the kids go get some rest.”

“Kids?” Seyoon uttered his first word that entire night.

Junhee slapped his forehead. “Oh, of course, I don’t even know how old all of you are yet,” he exclaimed, as if not knowing their ages was the gravest error one could make. “I’m 22 years old, and grandpa here,” he jabbed Donghun in the side, “is 23.”

“…I’m 22 too,” said Seyoon.

“My son.”

“We’re the same age?”

“Junhee likes to ‘adopt’ people,” Donghun explained, looking wary. “Don’t think anything of it. I think it’s his natural leader instincts coming out.” Seyoon didn’t look very convinced. 

“I’m 20,” Byeongkwan piped in.

“A child,” Junhee sniffled, a hand over his heart.

“Only?” Donghun looked surprised. “You’re so accomplished for a twenty-year-old.” Byeongkwan shook his head. 

“Nah, I just got an early start is all. Not really that accomplished. How about you, Yoochan? How old are you?”

“19!” Yoochan grinned proudly. Junhee gasped.

“A—”

“Baby!” Donghun finished for him. “Oh, you’re a baby!” Yoochan pouted slightly at this, causing Donghun to coo even more. 

Junhee rolled his eyes. “And he says I’m bad. I think that’s his natural _mother_ instincts coming out,” he snorted. 

After a few more minutes of chit-chatting, Yoochan had yawned, and immediately everyone decided it was time to go to bed. Donghun had to admit, suddenly combining two bathrooms was a lot more time efficient than if they each only had one, and pretty soon all lights were out and the dorm was silent.

Donghun found himself sitting cross-legged on his bed, leaning against the wall while Junhee stretched out on top of his blanket and pillows. Donghun was busy reading celebrity news on his phone.

Junhee fiddled around with his own sweater, examining the edges. “I have to do laundry soon,” he murmured sleepily. Donghun gave a distracted grunt in reply. After another moment of silence, Junhee spoke up again. “What do you think of the other guys?”

At this, Donghun looked up. “What do I think of the other guys?” Junhee nodded. “Well, they all seem to be very capable dancers. More so than me, at least.”

Junhee sighed and sat up. “Aw, come on, Hun, didn’t I tell you not to say things like that?” He tugged on the other boy’s sleeve. “Stop bringing yourself down. Your dancing’s not bad.”

“It’s not great, either,” Donghun muttered. “It’s nothing like the rest of you.”

Junhee tsked. “Hey, don’t you think Manager Kim must’ve had a reason for picking the two of us to be backup for NOVA?” He asked suddenly, eyes bright.

Donghun nodded hesitantly. “That…is something I’ve thought about before,” he replied quietly. “But I didn’t want to get my hopes up.”

“There you go, being all pessimistic again,” Junhee frowned, hitting Donghun’s arm. “I really do think we have a good chance of debut now. Don’t companies do this all the time? They get the trainees who are ready to debut dance backup or feature in music videos or something. Gets them more recognized.”

“I sure hope so.”

“I know so,” Junhee grinned, nudging Donghun in the side. “You didn’t really answer my question, though. What do you think of the other guys?”

Donghun shrugged. “They seem pretty nice. Yoochan kind of reminds me of you.”

“Of me? Why?”

“Energy,” Donghun replied simply, and Junhee laughed. “Byeongkwan’s so cool.”

Junhee nodded in agreement. “He is. So cool. Did you know I used to watch his videos?”

“Did you really?” Donghun couldn’t help but grin at the thought of a small Junhee, watching videos of an even smaller Byeongkwan doing flips and kicks. “Cute.”

“Not really. I used to be jealous. I was a super petty kid, you know, I thought I could do better than him.” 

Donghun smiled. “That does sound like you.”

“I definitely couldn’t, though,” Junhee laughed. “There’s a reason Byeongkwan was the viral prodigy, not me.”

“He was really great during practice today, wasn’t he?”

Junhee nodded. “You know who else was really great?” Donghun gave him a questioning glance. “Seyoon.”

“Oh, oh yeah. He _was_ really great.”

“What do you think of him?”

“He’s a little scary, isn’t he?” Donghun chuckled. “He always looks like he couldn’t care less about being here.”

“I don’t think that’s true, though,” said Junhee, playing with Donghun’s sleeve again. “Did you see the look in his eyes when he was dancing?” He shuddered. “I think he wants to be here way more than he lets on.”

Donghun yawned, nodding. “Oh, and then there’s that other guy, Park Junhee,” he grinned. “Want to know what I think of him? I think he’s loud and touchy and definitely in need of a haircut.”

“Hey!” Junhee kicked Donghun’s leg, and the other fell over, laughing. Junhee giggled as well as he flopped back down onto Donghun’s bed. Donghun rolled his eyes and shoved Junhee off, the other boy landing on the floor with a loud thud. “Oomph! Ow, Hun!”

“Go mess around in your own bed,” Donghun snorted, lying down and pulling his blankets over himself. “I’m going to sleep.”

Junhee stood up and brushed himself off before heading to the door, turning off the lights. “Fine.” He paused in the doorway. “Hun?”

“Hm?”

“Do you really think I’m too touchy?”

He heard a sigh come from the lump on Donghun’s bed. “I said you were touchy, Junhee, I never said you were _too_ touchy. Go to sleep.”

“Night, Hun.”

“Night.”

\-------------

Kim Seyoon didn’t like noise. He didn’t like rackets and he didn’t like loud sounds. He liked the peace and quiet, so naturally he was a light sleeper.

He cursed that about himself when he found himself woken up at 3 AM, unable to pinpoint exactly why he was awake but knowing for sure something must have happened to wake him up. He sighed as he lay on his bed, waiting to fall asleep again, when he heard it.

A quiet, whimpering sob coming from outside his open door, past the hallway.

Seyoon tried his best to ignore it. _Sleep, sleep, sleep,_ he told himself, flipping over his pillow to get comfortable, but it didn’t work. Before he knew it, he found himself getting out of bed and into his bathrobe and panda slippers to investigate. 

He turned on the light in the hallway and followed the sound of sniffling, stopping in front of a half-closed door. He wasn’t sure whose door it was – he hadn’t been at the dorm long enough to know – but he only hesitated a tiny bit before pushing it open to peer inside.

It was dark, and Seyoon had to blink a few times to see anything other than fuzzy shapes, but he eventually could make out the outline of a boy on the bed. He slowly walked into the room. The boy had blonde hair, which didn’t help, since both of his new roommates were blonde. He leaned down to get a better look at his face, which was half-hidden by blankets. Ah, it was the bouncy, happy one – Yoochan. 

Yoochan was currently curled up in his bed, whimpering softly with tears running down his cheeks. His hands were balled up in fists and gripping the blanket tightly. His body shook with every breath he took.

Seyoon was quiet, but he wasn’t heartless. Seeing the younger boy like this made something in him ache a little, and he sat down by the edge of the bed. He reached out a hand awkwardly and patted Yoochan on the shoulder.

“Shh…shh…Yoochan?” He whispered, unsure. “Uh, wake up?”

The other boy didn’t react, still tightly gripping the blanket and shaking. Seyoon patted him harder.

“Yoochan. Wake up, Yoochan, you’re having a nightmare.”

After a few more minutes of shaking and prodding, Yoochan gasped and abruptly sat up, nearly hitting Seyoon, who managed to dodge last-minute, in the head.

“No, oh my god!” Yoochan choked out, coughing and sputtering. Seyoon awkwardly patted him on the back.

Yoochan went into a coughing fit that lasted for a few minutes. When he finally settled down, he squinted at the person sitting next to him. “S-Seyoon?”

“You had a nightmare,” said Seyoon quietly, retracting his hand. 

“Oh.” Yoochan looked down. “Yeah.”

Seyoon glanced at the boy out of the corner of his eye and noticed him wiping angrily at his face with his sleeve. “…You want to talk about it?”

“No.” Yoochan shook his head. “Don’t worry ‘bout it. I just—“ he hiccupped. “I get them when I’m stressed.” He proceeded to fall into a hiccupping fit, and Seyoon resumed awkwardly patting him on the back.

After everything calmed down and it was silent again, Seyoon cleared his throat. “I’m, uh, gonna go back to bed now, so uh…” he trailed off, and Yoochan nodded. Seyoon stood up. “You good now?”

“Yeah. Thanks, Seyoon.” Yoochan cracked a small smile. Seyoon didn’t smile back, but he nodded and turned to leave the room. Something darted past him and hissed.

“Jesus – Yoochan, what is that?” Seyoon nearly lost his footing and had to grab onto the desk.

“My kitty Pickles.” Yoochan sniffed and held out his arms, and Pickles leapt up into them with a yowl. 

“That’s your cat?” Seyoon squinted at the animal currently nestling in Yoochan’s lap. “It looks like a rat with hair.”

Yoochan gives Seyoon a half-hearted glare, and Seyoon held up his hands. “Okay, okay, leaving.” He left the room and shut the door behind him.

\-------------

Byeongkwan placed a glass of water on his bedside table, thinking about what he had just seen. When he had left his room to go to the kitchen, the light in the hallway was turned on and he could hear voices coming from inside a room with its door completely ajar. Glancing inside, he had noticed what seemed to be Seyoon, talking in hushed whispers to a hiccupping Yoochan and patting him on the back. He couldn’t see too clearly, but Byeongkwan was ready to bet that Seyoon’s face was just as impassive as usual.

He took a sip and laid back down, tired but determined. 

Kim Seyoon was a mystery, and he was going to solve it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter!! Thanks for everyone who's left kudos so far ^^ 
> 
> As always if you want to chat, hmu on tumblr @kim-seyooned !!


	3. Getting Closer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys get to know each other better. Junhee gives gifts. Is Seyoon really an asshole?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to tumblr user @northisland-southernpeninsula for beta-ing!

“Junhee, what did you do?”

Junhee stared at Donghun. “What do you mean?”

Donghun pushed Junhee out of the way and walked into his room. “ _What do you mean_ ‘what do you mean?’” He gestured around. “Your room is a forest!”

It was Sunday, their rest day, and Donghun had been in his room all day, messing around on his Soundcloud. It was around one in the afternoon when Donghun finally emerged to grab himself something to eat, and he had done a double take at Junhee’s bedroom, where the boy in question was happily rearranging his bookshelf to place a potted plant on the top shelf. He had apparently felt the need for a complete room redecoration, because there were also potted plants lining his windowsill, his bedside table, his bigger table, the top of his wardrobe, and on the floor along the edges of his walls. And, Donghun blinked, on top of his mini-fridge? Since when did he have a mini-fridge?

Junhee tutted. “C’mon, Hun, cacti don’t grow in the forest,” he shook his head, placing more pots on the rest of his bookshelves.

Donghun squinted. Upon closer inspection, he realized that every single potted plant in Junhee’s room was indeed a cactus, all varying shapes and sizes. “…Why?” He finally managed to ask as Junhee moved to balance a tiny cactus precariously on top of his thermostat.

“I saw this video online,” Junhee explained, backing away and admiring his work proudly. “It was about how to make your room more aesthetically pleasing, and the person said that succulents always do the trick without fail.”

“So you went and bought the entire Sahara Desert,” said Donghun, deadpan. Junhee grinned and scratched his head.

“Well, you see, I went to the grocery store this morning to buy some, but they had a buy one get one half off deal, and so I bought, uh, thirty.”

“Th-thirty?” Donghun sputtered.

“But only for the price of whatever buy one get one half off of thirty is!”

“Twenty-two and a half,” Donghun sighed. “How are you even going to keep thirty cacti alive?”

Junhee beamed. “Not all of them are for me!” He grabbed a pot from its spot on the ground beside the door. “This one’s for you. I picked it because it’s tall and has a flower on the top and it reminded me of you.”

Donghun couldn’t hold back the smile that formed on his face as he accepted the gift. “Did you get one for everyone else too?”

“Of course,” Junhee nodded. He picked up a few more pots. “This one is for Byeongkwan – it has a bunch of different sizes, so it represents how versatile he is. This one’s Yoochan’s – it’s cute and fuzzy, just like him! And this one’s for Seyoon – it’s twisty and unique, and it looks very artistic.”

Donghun watched the other boy fondly as he rambled on about the characteristics of each cactus and how it matched their teammates. “You really put a lot of thought into this.”

“I wanted to give the others something to commemorate the start of this journey together,” said a distracted Junhee as he gathered up the three cacti in his arms, careful not to get any dirt on his white sweater.

Donghun grinned. “Cheeseball,” he laughed, nudging Junhee in the shoulder. Junhee nearly dropped Yoochan’s cactus and quickly shooed Donghun out of his room before heading through the bathroom into 202 to give them their gifts.

\-------------

Everyone in King Entertainment knew Park Junhee.

He was the poster child of a perfect trainee – he could sing, he could dance, and when he smiled he could kill everyone within a fifty-meter radius.

Everyone had seen the heaps of screaming fans that trailed after him every time he arrived at the company building to practice. Everyone had seen the clips of his monthly trainee evaluation – the way he had perfectly performed NOVA’s latest song was legendary and made the CEO swell with pride whenever it was mentioned. Everyone knew that when Park Junhee went onstage, it was all eyes on him.

However, only Donghun knew the real Park Junhee, the one that only emerges thirty minutes before he goes onstage. This Park Junhee did not smile, did not laugh, did not have the confidence of a Disney prince. This Park Junhee was scared – scared of failure, scared of letting other people down, scared of always being compared to his cousin, Kim Seokjin, and not being able to live up to his cousin’s name.

The first time Donghun had met this side of Junhee was a few months after Junhee had joined King Entertainment. The trainees were putting on a small performance for some visitors that day, and Donghun was backstage looking for a room to do vocal warmups in when he had run into the newest trainee, doubled over and sitting in the corner of the room with his knees pulled up to his chest.

Donghun had immediately run to the other’s side, checking for injuries, only to discover that the boy was in fact not harmed, but was taking deep, shaky breaths with his eyes tightly screwed shut. Donghun had reached out a hand to comfort him.

After that day, Donghun became Junhee’s best friend, and Junhee trusted him enough to let him stay by his side before going onstage, when he was at his absolute weakest. Donghun didn’t mind, either – there was comfort in Junhee’s presence, he thought, and the two boys began a tradition of keeping each other company before performances.

“In for four, out for eight. Inhale…exhale…that’s it.”

It was the day of the monthly evaluation for February. While the other boys were in practice room three as usual learning some new songs with Nara, Donghun and Junhee were sitting outside practice room one, waiting for their turns to go inside and impress the evaluators.

“Inhale through the nose, exhale through the mouth…in and out, in and out…” Donghun rubbed Junhee on the back as they went through their regular list of the breathing exercises that Donghun had learned from an online video. “Inhale…exhale…”

He could feel Junhee jump a bit when a staff member stuck her head out the door and called for the next trainee. He was oddly reminded of a child waiting for their turn at a doctor’s office.

Junhee had gotten much better over the years, having gotten used to the idea of monthly evaluations and presentations. Donghun always assured him that he would be completely fine – he _was_ Park Junhee, after all, and that would always put a small smile on Junhee’s face.

“Hun?”

“Yeah?”

“You know how I’ve been writing that song?” Junhee asked. Donghun nodded. “Well, I’ve written a bit more. Wanna hear it?”

“Of course.”

Junhee sang under his breath, voice almost a whisper in fear that he would disturb the evaluations happening inside the room.

Why was Junhee so scared? Donghun had never been able to figure that out. In theory, he should be the most confident trainee in the entire company. He was quite obviously the fan favourite, not to mention the staff favourite, and he had higher chances of debut than any of the rest of them. Donghun used to be jealous of him, annoyed that someone so new and inexperienced could so quickly gain favour from the company. That was, of course, before he had gotten to know Junhee as a person, and before he had become someone so integral in Donghun’s life that he could not remember what it was like before the other. Donghun took a deep breath. _I can’t imagine life without Park Junhee._

Junhee’s singing was cut off by the door opening again. “Park Junhee?” called the staff member, sticking her head out again. “You’re up.”

Donghun patted Junhee on the back as he stood up. “Good luck,” he mouthed and the other nodded, taking a deep breath and walking over to the door. _Not that you’ll need it._

As Donghun stared at the door that closed shut behind Junhee’s back, he thought about what he had just realized. Junhee was probably over his fear by now, definitely charming his way into the evaluators’ hearts, and now it was Donghun’s turn to be scared.

\-------------

“How was it?” Donghun asked as he always did when Junhee walked out, and as always, Junhee flashed him a grin and a thumbs up. Donghun grinned too and patted him on the back. “Of course.”

\-------------

Seyoon was ready to curse every single mystical power in the universe that worked together to bring him to where he was at that moment.

It was midnight, and Byeongkwan had been singing Loser by Bigbang for the past thirty minutes. In the shower. At the top of his lungs.

Seyoon wanted to cry.

He liked Bigbang, they were a legendary group, and Loser was an amazing song. But if he had to hear “I’M A LOSER, OETORI” one more time, he was going to lose it.

It was silent for a while. Seyoon sighed in relief and flipped over on his side, ready to fall back asleep.

“-JUST A LOSER, OETORI-”

“Oh, my god,” Seyoon groaned and chucked a shoe at the wall that separated his room from the bathroom. “Shut the fuck up, you loser.”

The singing stopped, and Seyoon flopped back onto his pillow with a grunt. A few minutes later, the water shut off and a dripping wet Byeongkwan poked his head into Seyoon’s room. “Sorry,” he grinned sheepishly.

Seyoon just mumbled something incoherent and stuck up his middle finger.

Byeongkwan grinned wider. “You know, I think this is the most passionate I’ve ever seen you,” he said. “When you’re not dancing, of course. It’s kind of weird.”

“Oh my god, just let me sleep,” Seyoon muttered into his pillow, and Byeongkwan walked off to his room, laughing.

An hour later, poor Seyoon was woken up again by the loud, shrill screech of the fire alarm.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” he groaned, disoriented as he scrambled to climb out of bed. “Why me? All I wanted was to sleep. I’m – I’m just – just so unfair,” he continued babbling, still not fully awake.

A frazzled looking Donghun burst through the bathroom into 202. “Guys, not to freak you out or anything, but this building doesn’t normally do fire drills, so, uh, hurry up because there might be an actual fire,” he called out.

In Seyoon’s sudden rush to get up he hit his knee on his bedside drawer and hissed, cradling it as he hopped out into the main lobby. He heard someone from another room yell something that sounded like “No tickles, no tickles!” A few seconds later, Yoochan ran out and joined him, cradling his hideous pet. _Oh right, Pickles._

Pretty soon Junhee and Byeongkwan joined the other three in the lobby, both of them looking like they had just sprinted through a tornado. “Sorry, sorry,” Junhee gasped, catching his breath. “I thought I was dreaming the alarm. Follow me, guys.” He led the other four boys down the staircase, out the emergency exit, and off to side of the parking lot where the rest of the residents were slowly gathering.

“Aren’t you cold, Seyoon?”

“Huh?” Seyoon looked down at himself and blinked. In his rush to get out, he had completely forgotten to wear clothes, and was now dressed only in his pajama shorts and his slippers. “Oh.”

Donghun snorted, Junhee grinned, Yoochan giggled, and Byeongkwan pointedly looked everywhere except at him. “I, uh, forgot,” Seyoon said awkwardly, scratching his arm, and Junhee’s grin widened.

“Well, it’s not like we’re complaining – ow!” Donghun punched Junhee in the arm, not looking apologetic in the slightest.

At that moment Yoochan let out a small yelp, and Pickles leapt from his arms and bounded out of the parking lot. “Pickles! She – She scratched me!” After a split second of hesitation, Yoochan took off after the cat, quickly disappearing past some trees and out of sight.

“Wait, Yoochan –” Junhee called after him, but the other boy was already out of sight. “Oh god, he’s not familiar with the area.” He grabbed Donghun by the sleeve and chased after him, Donghun sputtering as he let himself be dragged off.

Seyoon coughed. He had to admit, it was getting pretty cold, and he mentally smacked himself for forgetting to throw something on. How stupid could he get, really?

He felt a small nudge to his arm, and he looked down to see Byeongkwan holding out his jacket, still looking off to the side. “Take it,” said Byeongkwan. “You’re shivering.”

Seyoon opened his mouth to protest, but Byeongkwan shoved the jacket into his arms, and Seyoon had no choice but to put it on. He let out a breath of relief as he felt himself immediately warming up again. The jacket was a bit small, but it was nice and cozy and zipped up all the way to the chin.

Byeongkwan glanced at Seyoon and stifled a snort. “What?” Seyoon asked. Byeongkwan shook his head.

“It’s nothing, it’s just – you look ridiculous,” Byeongkwan gestured up and down at Seyoon, unable to hide his grin. “The jacket really goes well with your boxers.”

“Oh, shut up,” Seyoon rolled his eyes, pulling the zipper as far up as it can go. “They’re shorts, not boxers.” His voice was a little muffled by the hood.

Byeongkwan nodded. “Whatever you say.”

\-------------

Ten minutes later, the other three boys _still_ had not returned.

“Do you think we should look for them?” Asked Byeongkwan worriedly.

Seyoon shook his head.

“But they could’ve gotten lost. Or worse, kidnapped. Or the cat might’ve died.”

Seyoon just shrugged.

Byeongkwan huffed. “You aren’t worried at all? Not even a little bit?” When Seyoon stayed silent, Byeongkwan crossed his arms. “You know, it won’t kill you to talk to other people,” he muttered.

Seyoon shot him a glare. “I don’t need to say anything when there’s nothing to be said,” he replied shortly. “It’s unnecessary.”

“What?” Byeongkwan scoffed. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. It’s called common courtesy, I think that’s pretty necessary.” He sniffed and looked away, back at the trees where Junhee, Donghun, Yoochan, and Pickles had disappeared.

“I just don’t see the point,” Seyoon muttered after a few seconds of silence. “We’re all here to work, and after this tour it’s not like we’re going to see each other anymore, so…” He shrugged. “Call me mean, but I’m just being professional.”

“The building is safe!” Both Seyoon and Byeongkwan jumped slightly at the sudden booming voice of one of the firefighters. “Just a small stove fire, but everything’s cleared up and you’re all good to go back in now!”

Seyoon rolled his eyes. “Who sets off stove fires at 1 AM?” He moved to join the rest of the building’s inhabitants, who were all slowly shuffling towards the building’s direction like zombies.

“I’m going to stay out here and wait for the others,” said Byeongkwan quietly. Seyoon hesitated, looking back and forth from the other boy to the door, before sighing and standing next to him.

“Fine, I’ll stay too.” He was still wearing the other’s jacket, so he at least owed it to him to keep him company in the dead of night.

No words were exchanged as the other two stood there, Byeongkwan kicking at the ground with his left foot and Seyoon leaning sleepily against a lamp post. Some crickets chirped, filling the darkness with the shrill sound of nature.

“You know, I don’t think you’re as cold as you pretend to be,” Byeongkwan finally spoke up, eyes never leaving the trees. “And I don’t think you really believe what you said.”

“I do.”

“Well, you shouldn’t.” He yawned, unable to stop himself. “Junhee very obviously cares quite a bit for us.”

“Well, I’m not as affectionate as Junhee.”

“Hm. How’s your cactus doing?” Byeongkwan suddenly asked.

Seyoon blinked, caught off-guard. “Uh, good, I guess,” he stammered.

“It’s funny how someone who says he’s not affectionate still likes to talk to his cactus every night before bed.” Byeongkwan examined his nails nonchalantly.

“Wha – how did you –”

“Oh please, Seyoon. We share a wall, and it isn’t very sound-proof.” Byeongkwan gave a stunned Seyoon a quick grin. “I think you should give yourself a bit more credit. If you really were that mean, you wouldn’t be standing out here with me.”

\-------------

Junhee, Donghun, and Yoochan had returned a few minutes later to a smug-looking Byeongkwan and a frowning Seyoon. Yoochan was cradling Pickles in his arms, looking visibly shaken up, and Donghun had quickly ushered the others into the building upon seeing them still waiting outside.

Yoochan looked like he had seen a ghost, and when Byeongkwan asked him where Pickles had run off to Junhee and Donghun quickly shot him a look and gestured for him to shut up, which he did. It even got Seyoon a little curious when the moment they returned home Yoochan scurried off into his room, Pickles still in his arms, and shut the door without another glance at anybody.

Seyoon wordlessly handed the jacket back to Byeongkwan, who nodded and hung it up in the closet. As Seyoon prepared to sleep for the third time that night, he mulled over what the other boy had said in his head, sighing as he kicked off his slippers and curled up under his blanket.

“Life’s getting really weird these days,” he murmured to his cactus before shutting his eyes and finally getting some well-deserved rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!! Sorry this chapter took so long, writer's block hit me a little bit  
> But hope you like it! (Also is anyone else freaking out about those animations they're releasing on youtube? Like what the heck is that??)


	4. Flu Season

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yoochan catches a cold, and the others (aka Donghun) take care of him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to tumblr user @northisland-southernpeninsula for beta-ing!

**\---Monday, February 20, 10:32 AM---**  
**kwannie:** where u at  
**kwannie:** r u at the dorm  
**kwannie:** yoochan? where are you  
**\---Monday, February 20, 12:43 PM---**  
**kwannie:** chan???  
**\---Monday, Febrary 20, 3:57 PM---**  
**call to Kang Yoochan, no reply**

Byeongkwan sighed as he pocketed his phone, still receiving no answer from Yoochan. The boy had given no response when he had knocked on his door that morning, and Byeongkwan had left to go to practice on his own, thinking that maybe the other had already left. That was not the case, however, and Yoochan was currently eight hours late.

“Has anyone heard from Yoochan?” He asked, walking over to the side of the room to grab his water bottle. The other three shook their heads. Junhee came up to him, towel in hand and patting away the sweat on his forehead.

“He’s really late. You didn’t see him this morning?”

Byeongkwan shook his head. “I knocked, but he didn’t answer, so I thought he’d left already. That’s normally what I do with Seyoon.”

Byeongkwan had learned to give Seyoon his space and just let him do his own thing. Seyoon was usually never at home until late at night, and he always left early in the morning, before everyone else was awake. Ever since that night of the fire alarm, Seyoon and Byeongkwan had adopted a routine, which mostly consisted of Byeongkwan minding his own business and Seyoon pretending the other didn’t exist. Byeongkwan wasn’t sure if he preferred this to the constant bickering from before, but at least it meant practice always went smoothly.

Until now, at least. Where was Yoochan? The boy was usually very dedicated and never missed a day of work, if not arrive a few minutes late sometimes. He was never eight hours late, though, and that was some cause for concern. Thankfully, Nara wasn’t there today, and the worst repercussion Yoochan had to face was the other’s concern. And maybe a few stern words from Donghun.

The rest of practice passed by rather uneventfully. Byeongkwan acted as choreographer for the day, helping the others learn the dance moves and pointing out whenever they weren’t completely in sync with one another.

As usual, Seyoon packed up all his things and swiftly slipped out the door before Junhee had even unplugged the sound system. No one knew where he went all the time, but the others had learned to just let him be and not question it.

“You think he just forgot about practice today?” Junhee asked as he slung his bag over his shoulder and left the practice room, Byeongkwan trailing after him.

“How can you just forget practice?” Donghun turned off the lights and shut the door behind him.

“It _is_ Monday, maybe it just slipped his mind.”

Donghun gave Junhee a skeptical glance. “I guess. I really doubt it.”

The three of them stepped through the door into their dorm, Donghun and Junhee bickering the whole time about where Yoochan could have gone.

“Honestly, maybe he was at the dorm the whole day.”

“That’s what I just said!”

“Okay, but I wasn’t actually listening to you.”

“I – what kind of argument is that?”

Byeongkwan tuned them out as he set his things down and approached Yoochan’s door, which was still closed. He knocked.

“Yoochan?” No answer. He glanced back at Donghun and Junhee.

“Open it,” Junhee whispered, and Donghun nodded off to the side. Byeongkwan obliged, pushing the door open as quietly as possible.

The first thing he noticed was how dark the room was. The curtains were pulled tightly shut, and all the lights were turned off.

The next thing he noticed was the sound of sniffing from the bed, and then once his eyes adjusted to the dark, the tissues strewn all over the floor and a lump on the bed.

“Is he there?” Byeongkwan heard Junhee whisper from behind him, and he nodded.

“See Hun, I _told_ you –”

“Oh, shut up, Junhee.”

Byeongkwan knocked on the open door again. “Hey, Yoochan? You there? I’m gonna turn on the lights, okay?” When he heard no answer, he groped around on the wall a bit before finding the light switch and turning it on.

Immediately, the room was enveloped in light, and Byeongkwan blinked as his eyes took in the complete mess before him. Tissues weren’t the only thing piled on the floor – so were clothes, books, bags, takeout boxes. The table was so cluttered with miscellaneous objects that not an inch of its surface could be seen anymore. From underneath a pile of sweaters, Pickles poked her head out at the intruders and hissed.

The lump on the bed hissed too before falling into a coughing fit.

“Yoochan?”

Donghun and Junhee pushed past Byeongkwan and waded their way into the room, careful not to step on anything. Donghun sat on the foot of the bed as Junhee pulled the covers down in one swift motion, revealing a curled up Yoochan, eyes screwed tightly shut and two pieces of tissue stuffed up his nostrils.

“Oh. Oh! He’s sick!” Junhee looked up at Donghun and Byeongkwan worriedly. “And not in a ‘sick beats’ kind of way, but, like, actually sick.”

Yoochan groaned and rolled onto his stomach, head buried into his pillow. Donghun moved over to the front of the bed, pushing Junhee out of the way, and flipped Yoochan back over to place a hand on the boy’s forehead.

“Oh, yep, he’s definitely burning up.” He glanced at Byeongkwan, who was still standing in the doorway. “Can you go wet a towel in the bathroom? And Junhee,” the other looked up from his spot on the ground, where he had captured a murderous looking Pickles and held her captive in his lap. “Can you run to the store and buy some fever medicine and a thermometer? I’ll stay here and keep Yoochan company.”

“Poor guy,” Byeongkwan muttered as he and Junhee left the room. “What a bad time to be sick.”

Donghun sighed and turned back to the boy on the bed, who was currently shivering. He pulled the covers up all the way to Yoochan’s neck, tucking him in tight. Byeongkwan was right, this was a really poor time to fall ill. It was nearing the end of February, which meant they only had March and April to prepare for Tour Galaxie. Nara was pushing them hard every day. They had to learn twenty songs for the concert, which meant perfecting around three songs per month. That gave them just over a week to learn each song. It wasn’t easy, and with Yoochan sick they were going to be even more behind schedule.

Yoochan groaned again and coughed. Donghun patted his hot forehead in pity. Of course, it wasn’t his fault. You can’t help these things. _We’ll just have to work harder from now on,_ he thought to himself, sighing as he glanced around. The clock on the bedside table read 1:13 AM. _Might as well get some cleaning done while I wait._

The water stopped running in the bathroom, and Byeongkwan returned to the room with a dripping towel in hand. Donghun had found a garbage bin and was kneeling on the ground, tossing pieces of trash into it. “I got the towel,” Byeongkwan said, standing by the door.

“Great, thanks.” Donghun got up and took it from him, holding it far away from himself. “Geez, Byeongkwan, it’s soaking wet. Didn’t you wring it out a little? You can’t put this on a patient’s forehead.”

“Oh, is _that_ what you were going to use it for? I thought you needed it to wipe the table or something. Sorry, be right back.” He took the towel from Donghun and headed for the bathroom, returning a few seconds later with a freshly wrung out washcloth. “Here you go.”

“Thanks.” Donghun folded it up neatly and carefully placed it on Yoochan’s forehead, smoothing the boy’s hair back. “You wanna come in and help me clean?”

“Sorry, man. Got to throw in the towel on this one.” Donghun gave Byeongkwan a look, and the other grinned cheekily. “Sorry. Honestly, I wish I could help, but my immune system is so bad that I get sick if I literally stand in the proximity of a sick person. I’m kind of scared being this close, actually.”

“Right, don’t worry about it.” Byeongkwan sent Donghun another apologetic look, to which Donghun smiled. “Seriously, go to your room and sleep or something. I’m fine here, I never get sick.”

The washcloth slipped off Yoochan’s forehead, and Donghun gently put it back in place. Byeongkwan retreated to his room after wishing Donghun good night and giving Yoochan a quick get well soon air hug.

\-------------

Junhee announced his return a few minutes later with a loud “Hunnie, I’m home!” Donghun quickly shushed him.

“Everyone’s sleeping,” he whispered when Junhee set his purchases down and sat on the floor beside Donghun.

“How is he?” Junhee whispered back.

“Not good. Sleeping, at least.” Donghun reached inside the grocery bag and pulled out a thermometer. “Let’s see how bad it actually is.” He removed the object from its plastic packaging and fiddled with the buttons, eventually figuring out how to work the thing. He carefully pulled Yoochan’s shirt down a little, sticking the thermometer under the sleeping boy’s armpit.

“I thought you were supposed to put it under his tongue.”

“Pretty sure this is more hygienic.”

They spent the next minute tidying up the room a bit more, Donghun wincing in disgust as he gingerly picked up an old pizza crust from under the table and tossing it in the garbage bin. The thermometer started beeping. Junhee reached through Yoochan’s pajama top and retrieved it, squinting at the screen.

“38.2, that’s a fever, right?”

Donghun nodded and took the thermometer from him. “Yeah, pretty sure that’s a high fever. Let’s just let him sleep tonight, and then tomorrow morning if it doesn’t go down I can take him to the hospital to see a doctor.”

Junhee chucked the last few articles of clothing into the hamper, NBA style.

“Stop that, you look ridiculous,” Donghun laughed, grabbing the hamper and setting it outside the room. He took a look around, pleased with their work. “Yoochan’s not gonna know what hit him.”

“Donghun, super mom, to the rescue! He’s here to save the world from the flu and messy bedrooms.” Donghun snorted and crossed his arms. Junhee grinned. “What? It’s true. I’ll go to the doctor’s with you guys tomorrow morning.”

“No, it’s okay. They need you at practice.” Donghun returned to Yoochan’s side and took the towel off the boy’s forehead and handed it to Junhee. “You already helped me enough tonight. You should go get some sleep.”

Junhee tugged at Donghun’s arm. “You too, Hun. He’ll feel better in the morning.”

Donghun placed his hand on Yoochan’s forehead one more time before letting himself be dragged away to his room.

\-------------

_I want to die._

Yoochan miserably opened an eye at the sunlight streaming in through his window. He glanced at his clock. 6:11 AM. He was usually never up this early.

He rolled over and grabbed a box of tissues, violently blowing his nose. He cursed himself for never truly appreciating how blessed he was when he could freely breathe through both nostrils.

What happened? He vaguely recalled waking up yesterday, feeling like death had come, and using up an entire box of tissues. The rest of his memory was hazy. He only remembered little bits and pieces, probably due to him slipping in and out of consciousness.

He didn’t feel much better right now. There was an intense throbbing in his head, which he felt like was ready to explode any minute now. His nose was completely plugged, his sinuses hurt, and his throat felt like he had spent the entire past week in a mosh pit. Not to mention the chills that were running through his entire body, even though he was covered in sweat.

This was a fever, all right.

Yoochan blinked again, finally taking in his surroundings. Did…did his room get bigger? He sneezed and pulled out another tissue.

“Oh, you’re awake!”

Donghun appeared in the doorframe, and Yoochan gave him a weak smile. “Hi,” he croaked. Donghun tsk-ed.

“Ugh, you sound like you smoke three packs a day,” he said, walking in and placing a towel on Yoochan’s forehead. “What do you think of your room? Junhee and I gave it quite the makeover last night.”

“You cleaned it? Oh, no wonder it looks bigger,” Yoochan rasped. “Thanks.”

Donghun grinned. “No problem. Now, stop talking. Can you get up? I’m taking you to the hospital. It’s really close, only a block away.”

Yoochan tried to nod, but his head practically screamed at him to stop moving it. _Okay_ , he mouthed, letting Donghun stick an arm under his armpit and hoist him out of the bed.

“Why are you awake?” Yoochan whispered as Donghun helped him down the stairs. “Were you waiting for me?”

Donghun held the main entrance open. “No, don’t worry about it. This is what Junhee and I always do whenever one of us gets sick. It’s usually Junhee, though, so I’m pretty good at this playing doctor thing.” They start slowly making their way down the street. Yoochan had put on a Rilakkuma face mask and hadn’t bothered with contacts, and with every exhale he gave his glasses fogged up.

The doctor ran all the regular tests for tuberculosis and strep throat, which all came out negative. Yoochan whined his way through receiving a shot and was prescribed some generic cold medication, and Donghun was praised on his caretaking skills, to which he replied that he had gotten plenty of practice living in a building with trainees.

“So you’re basically like the building mother then?” Yoochan asked on the walk home after he had gained some of his voice back.

Donghun rolled his eyes. “I don’t know why everyone always insists on calling me a mother,” he replied, exasperated. “I _literally_ could not be one if I tried.”

“Oh please, you already do basically everything a mom does.” Yoochan proceeded to nearly hack a lung out into his tissue paper, and Donghun rubbed his back sympathetically.

“That’s stupid,” Donghun scoffed. “I don’t do everything a mom does.”

Yoochan gave Donghun, who was still rubbing his back soothingly, a look. “Of course. Wherever did I get that idea from.”

“I’m just responsible.”

“Whatev – achoo!”

“Bless you.”

“Thank you.”

\-------------

“You know, you’re really talented,” Donghun mused as they stepped into apartment 202. “Have you ever considered being a trainee?”

Yoochan shook his head. “Not really. I mean, I’ve fantasized about it maybe once or twice, but I still have so many other things I want to do too that I feel like being a trainee would prevent me from doing.”

“Like what?”

“Well, I definitely want to finish school.”

Donghun took Yoochan’s coat and hung it up in the closet. “Oh right, you’re still in university. What are you studying again?”

“Acting major, minor in cognitive psychology.”

“Wait, really? Acting? Psychology? Why?”

Yoochan shrugged and grabbed another tissue box from the cupboard under the sink before heading to his room. “I like acting, and I took so many psych electives I accidentally qualified for a minor, so why not?” He picked up Pickles, who swatted at his ear, and crawled into bed. Donghun placed his medicine and a bottle of water on his bedside table.

“Check your temperature,” he said, handing the thermometer to Yoochan. “Don’t forget to take your meds three times a day, and make sure you drink lots of water. Get well soon, okay? Junhee’s worried sick about you.” 

“Yes, Mom,” Donghun heard Yoochan giggle as he was leaving, and he sighed and aggressively turned off the light switch.

\-------------

The next day Donghun had just finished cooking up a nice, healthy dinner and was bringing it to Yoochan’s room when he heard excited chattering from inside.

“And this is Ace – I know, right? So cool. He’s my favourite.”

Donghun rolled his eyes and pushed the door open. “Junhee, I thought I told you to keep your weeb-ing to yourself.”

Junhee was sat cross-legged on the floor next to Yoochan, who was lying, propped up on his elbows on his bed. Junhee had a figurine in one hand and a manga book in the other, numerous other anime figurines spread out beside him.

“I’m not a weeb,” said Junhee indignantly. “I just thought it might help Yoochan feel better.”

Donghun set down the food and picked up one of the figurines. “This shirtless dude is supposed to help Yoochan feel better?”

“That’s not just any shirtless dude, that’s Fire Fist Ace from One Piece, okay?”

“I think it’s pretty cool,” Yoochan piped up hoarsely. Donghun shoved a water bottle in his direction.

“Don’t encourage him.”

“Oh, shut up, Hun, just because you’re the killer of fun doesn’t mean you have any right to keep me from helping Yoochan heal,” Junhee crossed his arms.

Donghun pulled him up and toward the door. “Whatever, nerd. And why is Iron Man in your figurine collection?”

Junhee struggled against Donghun’s hold, eventually giving up and letting himself be dragged out. “Shut up, Iron Man is cool. He could probably be in an anime if he wanted to.” Donghun snorted, and Junhee waved bye. “Have fun, Yoochan! Just wait until I show you Attack on Titan! And Haikyuu!” Donghun waved too and slammed the door shut behind them.

\-------------

Byeongkwan was glad to see that Yoochan seemed to be getting better, no matter how slowly. He had stopped coughing as much, which was a relief because he tended to fall into coughing fits until late into the middle of the night. He even said that he would soon be good enough to start practice again, although right now he still wanted to rest a few more days. The boy still didn’t eat anything except the meals that Donghun cooked for him, so he probably wasn’t healthy enough to go to practice anyway. Byeongkwan knew the moment Yoochan got his appetite back, everything would be back to normal.

\-------------

It was 2:43 AM. Seyoon quietly closed the front door shut behind him and turned on the lights, fully ready to go to bed. The room lit up and Seyoon was greeted by the sight of Yoochan bent over the kitchen counter, silently but earnestly stuffing his face with a slice of pizza. Yoochan looked up with wide eyes, a guilty look on his face.

Seyoon blinked at Yoochan.

Yoochan blinked at Seyoon.

The room was silent save for the sound of chewing.

“Don’t tell Donghun,” Yoochan finally said at the same time Seyoon turned the light back off with a bewildered “Okay?” He retreated to his room, and Yoochan resumed sneaking his way through an entire pizza.

Wasn’t that boy supposed to be sick?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg sorry this is so late everyone!!!!!!!!!  
> I went to korea for a few days and it was amaaazing but I didn't really have much time to write so ahh I'm sorry  
> Hope you like the chapter though, and I promise the next one will be out on time! <3


	5. Lost in Hongdae

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The squad make a day trip to Hongdae. Stuff happens.

“So I’ve been thinking – ”

“Uh oh,” someone (probably Donghun) muttered, and Junhee ignored him.

“We work so hard. Every single day, you know, it’s get up, practice, come home, sleep, repeat. I’m getting really tired, and I’m sure all of you are too.”

“Get to the point,” Donghun heckled. Junhee continued ignoring him.

“So, that’s why I called you here to this group meeting! I think we should go on a trip!”

He was met with four pairs of blank stares from around the table. Byeongkwan cleared his throat.

“Um, not that I don’t want to go on a trip, Junhee, but we actually do have lots of work to get done, so I’m not sure if that’s the smartest idea – ”

Junhee grinned. “I didn’t mean a trip to, like, America or anything. We’re going on tour in a few months so we’ll get plenty of chances to travel then, anyway. I meant, like, a day out. We can go this Sunday.”

Byeongkwan thought it over, nodding. “You know, that’s not a bad idea, actually. It’s been a while since I’ve actually just hung out.” The others nodded in agreement. “Where should we go?”

“We could spend a day at Han River,” Junhee suggested. “Go biking, have some chicken and beer. It’s what all the cool people do.”

Yoochan snorted. “No one goes to Han River anymore. That’s so out of style. Hongdae is where it’s at nowadays.”

“Wait, really?” Junhee looked put out. “Since when?”

“I dunno, years?”

“Are you sure? I mean, I haven’t really heard of that, and my friends and I used to go to Han River all the time – ”

Donghun patted Junhee on the back. “I think it’s best to listen to the college kid, Junhee. You’re getting old.”

“Shut up, Grandpa,” Junhee scowled.

“I’m down to go to Hongdae,” said Byeongkwan. Yoochan agreed, and even Seyoon nodded. He had gotten a bit tired of the everyday training too. Junhee clapped happily.

“That’s decided, then. This Sunday, the five of us, day trip to Hongdae!”

\-------------

“Remind me why we’re doing this again,” Seyoon muttered for the thousandth time.

Junhee sighed. “To build teamwork, get closer, and have a relaxing break,” he explained for the thousandth time.

“This isn’t very relaxing.” Seyoon glared at the crowd of people quickly enclosing them.

Junhee smiled sheepishly. “Sorry.”

As usual, Junhee’s reputation preceded him, and upon leaving the house at noon (they had all gotten to sleep in a bit) the five of them found themselves surrounded by teenage girls, all shoving a camera or phone or some form of recording device into their faces and screaming loudly.

“Junhee!”

“I love you, Junhee!”

“So handsome!”

“Junhee, what’s it like to be related to Kim Seokjin?”

At that last one, Junhee had scowled and pulled the other four quickly into a subway station and past the ticket gates.

The crowd had reformed once they got off the subway at Hongdae, and Seyoon was quickly getting annoyed at having his “relaxing break” be hijacked by Junhee’s adoring fans. It was irritating, to say the least. These people didn’t seem to have any concept of personal space.

“Excuse me! Pardon me!”

Junhee led the other four through the crowd, pushing his way through. The five of them looked like a small flock of geese forming a weird V-formation with Junhee in the center. “Excuse me! Where – ”

“Oh my god, it’s King Ent.’s Park Junhee!”

“ – did you guys want to go first?” Junhee made his way to a small clearing in the crowd and turned around to face the others. Donghun gave a small sigh of relief as he stumbled into the clearing as well. Byeongkwan stared at Junhee in a mixture of awe and annoyance. Seyoon was glaring daggers at anyone who dared to come any closer. Yoochan just looked frazzled.

“What?” asked Junhee. Byeongkwan shook his head.

“I don’t know how you deal with this every day,” he said in amazement.

Junhee grinned. “You get used to it after a while. Plus, it’s nice to have some fans. I appreciate each and every one of them.” Some of the fans who were avoiding Seyoon’s glare and inching their way closer cooed at this, and Junhee shot them a blinding smile.

“He smiled at me!”

“So handsome, I can _not_ –”

“Who’s he with? Are those his friends?”

“No, you idiot, they must be trainees, don’t you see Lee Donghun? Oh my god, can you even call yourself a King Ent. stan if you don’t know Lee Donghun? Fake fan.”

Donghun stifled a laugh. “Huh, it _is_ kind of nice.”

“See?” Junhee nodded.

“Oh my god, can we just go?” Seyoon groaned and forcibly pushed his way forward through the crowd (“Geez, what’s _his_ problem?”). “Weren’t we going to go eat or something?”

“Of course, of course. Follow me.” Junhee gestured at the other four, and they managed to set off in a direction with a trail of giggling fans following behind them.

As they walked, Junhee pulled out a selfie stick and set it up with his phone. “Hey guys, you mind if Donghun and I just vlog a little bit today? Some of the fans like to keep up with the trainees at our company, so I think they’ll upload this to their website or something.”

“Yeah, sure,” Byeongkwan nodded.

Yoochan’s eyes gleamed. “Wow, vlogging! That’s so cool, I’ve always wanted to be in a vlog!”

Junhee coughed awkwardly. “Actually, I don’t think you guys are allowed to be in it,” he mumbled. “I think it’s just a trainee thing. I’m so sorry!”

Yoochan looked a little disappointed, but nodded understandingly. Byeongkwan grinned and pulled out his phone. “It’s okay, Yoochan, you’re forgetting that I have a YouTube channel too. We can make our own vlog, see?” Yoochan immediately brightened up. Seyoon looked like he couldn’t care less.

Junhee had slung an arm around Donghun’s shoulder while they walked behind the group, chattering animatedly to his phone. “ – And today, Hun and I making a trip to Hongdae! Look, there’s so many of you here!” He waved the selfie stick around at the fans following them, who screamed and waved back.

“He’s really popular, isn’t he?”

“Who, Junhee? Oh yeah.” At Yoochan’s question, Byeongkwan glanced back at the trainee, currently preening under all the attention, an uncomfortable-looking Donghun trapped under his arm. “You never heard of him before coming here?”

Yoochan shook his head. “I didn’t really keep up with King Ent’s trainees. I just knew NOVA.”

“Well, Junhee over there is Seokjin’s cousin. You know, from NOVA.”

Yoochan gaped. “No way, really? _The_ Kim Seokjin?”

“The one and only. You seem familiar.”

“Yeah! Big fan, _huge_ fan. Oh wow, I didn’t know Junhee was his cousin.”

“Don’t bring it up, though,” Byeongkwan whispered. “I heard that he doesn’t like to talk about it. I can’t imagine why, it must be so cool being related to a celebrity.”

“I think Junhee’s pretty much a celebrity himself,” Yoochan said, glancing back at him. Junhee had passed off the selfie stick to Donghun, who looked like he was making nice, pleasant small talk with the phone.

“Does anyone actually know where we’re going?” Seyoon finally spoke.

Byeongkwan and Yoochan paused.

“Uh, Junhee?”

\-------------

“Are you sure about this place?” Byeongkwan looked at the paint peeling from the walls skeptically. “It seems a bit…sketchy.”

“Oh, trust me,” Junhee grinned, waving his chopsticks around in the air. “The best places are always the sketchiest. At least, when it comes to restaurants. This place serves the best chicken and beer I’ve had in nearly all of Seoul.”

The food arrived, and Yoochan blurted a quick “Thanks for the meal!” before digging in, the other four following suit.

“Oh, my god.”

“Was I right, or was I right?” asked Junhee smugly. Byeongkwan’s eyelids fluttered closed.

“You were so right,” he moaned, smacking his lips.

“Ew, have some decency,” Seyoon grimaced in disgust. Byeongkwan ignored him.

“The way the cheese melts into the chicken, and the rice cakes and ramen mixed in with the sauce, oh, I think I’m in heaven.”

Donghun chuckled. “I mean, I’m no professional chef or anything, but this really is amazing. You have great taste, Junhee, literally.”

“Done!” Yoochan set down his chopsticks and leaned back, wiping at his mouth with a napkin. His plate was completely clean.

The other four gawked at him. Donghun looked back and forth from Yoochan’s empty plate to his own hardly touched one. “H-how? I’ve barely eaten a single piece. I don’t understand –”

“I’m a growing boy,” Yoochan said simply before calling the restaurant owner over and ordering another serving. The other four just stared incredulously at him. “Oh, stop staring. I have incredible metabolism, all right?”

Byeongkwan shrugged before eating another piece of chicken. “Eat as much as you want, I’m not paying.”

Everyone laughed as they watched Junhee’s happy face morph into one of horror as he realized he was paying.

\-------------

“Now that we finished that delicious meal, it’s time to do some shopping!”

“Wait, no, I don’t want to go shopping – ”

Junhee rolled his eyes and turned his gaze from the selfie stick to Donghun. “Hun, we’re in _Hongdae_. Of course we have to go shopping! I’m right, aren’t I?” He asked his phone. “C’mon, I’ll show you some hats that I think you’ll really like.”

The other three trailed a small distance behind Junhee and Donghun. “Did he say hats?” Byeongkwan whispered. “That’s awesome, I’ve been needing some new hats.”

“But you already have, like, twenty,” Yoochan whispered back.

“So?”

Yoochan noticed Junhee stow his selfie stick away and immediately bound up to him, probably to ask about hats or chicken or something of the sort. The two had taken quite a liking to one another.

Byeongkwan and Seyoon walked in uncomfortable silence for a while, neither of them feeling it necessary to run to catch up to the others. Byeongkwan watched as Junhee ruffled Yoochan’s hair and Donghun said something, causing all three of them to burst into laughter.

“They look like they’re having fun,” he commented. Seyoon showed no sign of having heard him.

They walked in silence for a few more minutes. “So, uh, that new dance we learned yesterday? Insane, right?” Byeongkwan tried again. Seyoon made a small noncommittal grunt, but gave no response otherwise. Byeongkwan huffed and abruptly stopped. A few seconds later, Seyoon realized the person next to him was no longer there and turned around, giving him a questioning glance.

“You know it wouldn’t kill you to talk to me once in a while,” Byeongkwan grumbled. Seyoon looked at him, confused.

“What?”

“Why are you even here if you’re not having fun? You might as well go home instead of having to suffer even more in our presence.”

Seyoon furrowed his eyebrows. “I am having fun.”

Byeongkwan scoffed. “Are you sure? Because you look like you would rather eat a cockroach than be here right now.”

Seyoon made a face. “Believe me, that is not true.” He sighed and walked back to where Byeongkwan was standing. “Come on, why’d you suddenly stop? Let’s go.”

Byeongkwan crossed his arms stubbornly. “I’m not moving until you promise to act like a civil human being.”

“Wha –” Seyoon stared at Byeongkwan. “I have no idea what you mean – I am a civil human being. Now stop being childish, and let’s go before the others wonder where we are!”

Byeongkwan pointedly looked the other way, not moving an inch. Seyoon sighed. “Fine. I promise to act like a civil human being. Can we go now?”

Byeongkwan grinned and uncrossed his arms. “See? That wasn’t too hard, now was it?”

“You’re so annoying,” Seyoon muttered under his breath.

Byeongkwan took a few steps forward and suddenly stopped again. “What is it now?” Seyoon sighed, standing next to him. Byeongkwan turned to the other with a slightly sheepish smile.

“Uh, I think the others disappeared.”

“What?” Seyoon looked around, and sure enough, Donghun, Junhee, and Yoochan were nowhere in sight. He groaned. “Great, now we’re alone in Hongdae. This is completely your fault.”

“My fault? How is it – okay, I guess it’s mostly my fault, but if you weren’t being so rude in the first place I wouldn’t have stopped.”

“Oh, don’t try to blame me. This is all because you’re too childish and had to throw a stupid temper tantrum.”

“Okay, okay, keep your cool, this can be fixed. Just call them.”

“I don’t have any of their numbers, though.”

“What? It’s been a month, how do you not have any of their numbers?”

Seyoon shrugged. “I just never thought it necessary.” Byeongkwan gaped at him before shaking his head.

“I guess I should have expected that. I’ll call them.” He pulled out his phone, then put it back in his pocket. “My phone’s dead.”

“Are you shitting me?” Seyoon ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

“You know, you should do something about your swearing,” Byeongkwan suggested.

“Fuck you.”

“I guess I deserved that. Hey, wait up! Don’t leave without me!”

\-------------

Donghun, Junhee, and Yoochan walked into the hat store, looking around in wonder at all the different shapes and colours stacked on top of the shelves. Rows upon rows of hats and displays lined the store, each one more extravagant-looking than the last. A giant arrow sign pasted on the wall pointed up, directing customers to shoes and other accessories on floor two. Loud and tired-looking employees waved around fliers and yelled out the daily sales at the top of their lungs. Junhee immediately walked over to an aisle and picked one out, showing it to Donghun.

“See, Hun? I thought you might like this one.”

Donghun was currently glancing behind him in confusion. “Wait, where are Byeongkwan and Seyoon?”

“Are they not with us?” Junhee poked his head out the store door, looking left and right. The other two were nowhere to be seen. “Damn it, we lost two people.”

“Byeongkwan’s not picking up his phone,” Donghun said, staring down at his own phone in worry. “Should we go back and look for them?”

“You know what, guys, they’re two grown men who’ve lived in Korea their whole life. I think they should be fine.” Yoochan reasoned. “We should just let them explore around for the day.”

“But –”

“They’ll be fine!” Yoochan placed one hand on Junhee’s back and another hand on Donghun’s shoulder, leading them back over to the hat Junhee had picked out. “Now, what were you saying about Donghun and this hat?”

\-------------

Seyoon and Byeongkwan walked in their regular silence, even more uncomfortable now than usual. Byeongkwan occasionally caught Seyoon shooting a scowl or two in his direction. When he caught Seyoon sending him death glares for the third time in the last minute, he snapped.

“Look, I was just trying to be friendly, all right?” He abruptly stopped again, pulling on Seyoon’s arm and leading the both of them to a less crowded area of the street. “Stop looking at me like that. This is _not_ completely my fault.”

Seyoon wrenched his arm out of Byeongkwan’s grasp. “Last time I checked, _you_ were the one who suddenly stopped walking, and _you_ were the one who wouldn’t move when I told you to, and _you_ were definitely the one who got us separated from the others, so yeah, I’d say this is your fault.”

Byeongkwan wanted to pull his hair out. “You know, we wouldn’t even be in this situation if your bitch ass would just speak when spoken to once in a blue moon!”

“My bitch ass thought we had a good thing going on here,” Seyoon glowered. “Where I didn’t talk to you, and you didn’t talk to me. Why couldn’t you just stick to that?”

“Uh, maybe because I’m a normal person and I actually like to be pleasant to other people? Unlike you,” Byeongkwan glared. Seyoon glared back for a bit before curtly turning around and walking back into the crowd of people on the street. Byeongkwan huffed and crossed his arms in anger, before realizing that as little as he wanted to see Seyoon right now, he definitely did not want to end up stranded alone in Hongdae. He sighed and ran after him.

“Seyoon, wait.”

Seyoon didn’t stop or turn or show any signs of having heard him, as usual. Byeongkwan caught up and fell into step beside him.

“Look, I’m sorry, okay? I just – it just would be nice sometimes to be able to be civil to one another.”

Seyoon said nothing in return.

“Okay, seriously? You’re seriously going to give me the silent treatment? What are you, five?”

“I’m not giving you the silent treatment,” Seyoon sighed, finally looking at Byeongkwan in acknowledgment. “When will you learn that this is just the kind of person I am? I’m sorry if I don’t talk as much as you want me to. I’m sorry if I can’t be pleasant, or whatever it is that you want me to be. That’s just not who I am, all right? It’s not in my character, so I’d really appreciate it if you stopped trying to force yourself onto me, and just leave me be in peace. Thanks.”

It was Byeongkwan’s turn to be silent, and Seyoon gave another small sigh before turning back to look to the front. They said nothing for a while as they walked. Finally, after what felt like centuries, Byeongkwan spoke up again meekly.

“Hey, look. An arcade.”

Seyoon looked at where the other was pointing, at a plain, brown building with the word “ARCADE” pasted on in faint letters. “Oh, yeah. So it is.”

“…Wanna go in?”

“No.”

“Oh, come on, please?” Byeongkwan whined, immediately returning to his usual, loud self. “Please, please, please? I love arcades more than anything in this world. More than chicken.”

“No, I don’t like – ”

“More than Yoochan loves pizza!”

Seyoon sighed, rubbing his eyes. His shoudlers visibly drooped, a sign of surrender. “Fine. Let’s go.” Byeongkwan practically jumped for joy before pulling the other in past the swinging doors and into the world of bright lights and blasting sounds.

After going to the counter to buy a hefty bag of tokens, the two of them found themselves weaving aimlessly between the machines. For what seemed like a run-down, plain building on the outside, the inside of it was extraordinary. There was every single game imaginable, row on row, floor by floor, all bright, twinkling lights. Byeongkwan was in heaven. Seyoon was in hell.

“Another one? Seriously?”

Byeongkwan had dragged Seyoon over to what was probably the fifth claw machine they had stopped at in the past hour. “You know these things are rigged, right?” Seyoon looked at Byeongkwan doubtfully.

Byeongkwan shook his head in determination. “All you need is just the right amount of technique,” he said, popping a token into the machine slot and grabbing onto the lever. “Just the right angle and…” He stuck his tongue out in concentration and pushed the button, all while giving the lever one last hard swing as the claw descended. Sure enough, it gripped itself around a Pikachu plush, that last swing giving it the momentum to fling the doll into the hatch. “There we go. Easy.”

“Yeah, only took you five tries,” Seyoon muttered under his breath as Byeongkwan retrieved the doll happily. The other didn’t hear him, and handed the doll over.

“Here.”

Seyoon took the Pikachu, staring at it. “What am I, your girlfriend? You don’t need to play games and win me dolls.”

“Shut up, you dingbat,” Byeongkwan rolled his eyes. “I just wanted you to hold it for me.”

“Oh. Right.”

After Byeongkwan had counted out the rest of his tokens, he looked up with a big smile. “Okay. Let’s keep going.”

\-------------

“No.”

“Hun, you’ve said no to every hat I’ve picked out!”

“Because every hat you’ve picked out is ugly.”

“Now that’s just rude, Hun.”

“It’s not rude if it’s the truth.”

“Hun!”

\-------------

So far, it had been Byeongkwan playing all the games, Seyoon trailing behind like some kid who had gotten dragged into the produce section of the grocery store by his grandmother. Byeongkwan felt kind of guilty – it had been him, after all, who had forced the other to come in here, and so he was determined to get Seyoon to play a few as well. Seyoon, however, was as stubborn as a rock.

“No.”

“No.”

“ _No, _Byeongkwan.”__

__Byeongkwan sighed as they kept walking around, gaze finally settling on a machine that was larger than the rest and a grin slowly spreading on his face. “Hey, Seyoon.”_ _

__The other boy groaned. “How many times do I have to tell you no?”_ _

__“What do you say to a nice, friendly match of Just Dance?”_ _

__At this, Seyoon paused and glanced at the game. Byeongkwan beamed and clambered onto the pad on the left. “Come on! You can pick the song.” After another moment’s hesitation, Seyoon climbed onto the one on the right._ _

__“Bring it on.”_ _

__\-------------_ _

__“This one?”_ _

__“No.”_ _

__“Damn it.” Junhee threw the hat back onto the sale rack._ _

__\-------------_ _

__Byeongkwan doubled over, wheezing. “Why…did…you…have…to…” he stopped to catch his breath. “To pick…the highest…difficulty?”_ _

__Seyoon shrugged, completely fine. “I happen to be the Just Dance master back at my old company.”_ _

__“Your...old company?” Byeongkwan leaned against the rail, glancing at Seyoon._ _

__“Yeah. My old company.” Seyoon didn’t seem willing to elaborate, and Byeongkwan decided not to push any further. After he had recovered, he stuck a few more tokens into the machine and started going through the list of songs, looking for something._ _

__Seyoon eyed him. “Another round?”_ _

__Byeongkwan nodded. “Oh yeah. As a professional dancer, I can’t accept defeat so easily. Ah-ha, here it is!” He selected a song and smirked at Seyoon, whose face lit up with recognition as the song started playing._ _

__“Of course.”_ _

__Byeongkwan laughed. “Superstar by NOVA. I choreographed this song, there is no way I will lose.”_ _

__\-------------_ _

__“I can’t believe I lost,” Byeongkwan gasped, clutching onto the rails once again as Seyoon stood off to the side, smirking._ _

__“What did I tell you? Just Dance master.”_ _

__“That was a fluke,” Byeongkwan muttered in frustration. He jammed a few more tokens into the machine, ignoring the dirty looks he was getting from people who had lined up to play after them. “Again. Rematch.”_ _

__“I’m telling you, you’re only going to lose,” said Seyoon cockily as he got into position on his pad again._ _

__“No way. You’re going down, Kim Seyoon.”_ _

__\-------------_ _

__Ten rounds later, Byeongkwan and Seyoon found themselves escorted out due to complaints from other customers. Both had wide grins on their faces._ _

__“I was totally going to win that last round,” said Byeongkwan confidently._ _

__Seyoon scoffed. “Please. You were only a few points ahead. I would have caught up if those staff hadn’t stopped us.”_ _

__“Okay, you keep telling yourself that,” Byeongkwan huffed, eyebrows raised._ _

__“There you guys are!”_ _

__Both of them whipped around to see Donghun, Junhee, and Yoochan running up to them, all three of them carrying multiple shopping bags. Donghun was wearing a new, hideous-looking hat._ _

__“We’ve been looking for you everywhere,” Junhee panted. “You can’t just disappear like that!”_ _

__Donghun eyed the smiles on their sweaty faces and the Pikachu doll Seyoon was still holding. “You look like you had fun, though,” he said. Byeongkwan and Seyoon glanced at each other and burst out laughing._ _

__This was the first time any of them had seen Seyoon laugh. His eyes turned into half-moon crescents and his nose crinkled up in the most adorable way, and Byeongkwan had a sudden urge to protect him. This was not the cold, broody Seyoon that they knew. This was a soft, happy Seyoon._ _

__“See, I told you they’d be fine,” Yoochan laughed with them. “I wouldn’t have left them otherwise – ” He froze, stopping mid-sentence._ _

__“…Left us?” Byeongkwan squinted at Yoochan, then gasped. “You ditched us on purpose, didn’t you? You little shit!”_ _

__“Hey, feel bad for me! I’m your roommate, and I couldn’t stand the tension anymore!”_ _

__“Come here, you little – ” Byeongkwan growled. Yoochan yelped and scurried off, Byeongkwan hot on his heels. The other three stared after them, before sighing and running to catch up. Junhee whipped out his selfie stick as he ran._ _

__“Hey guys! Thanks for tuning in to today’s vlog! I hope you guys had fun, because we sure did! Until next time, this was Junhee and Donghun in Hongdae, logging out!”_ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here it is, another chapter!! this was partially inspired by all their trips to hongdae + all their busking + my own trip to hongdae (it is definitely the place to be)  
> i hope you like it!! as always, hmu on @kim-seyooned on tumblr if you wanna chat (or just comment hehe)


	6. The Oreo Fiasco

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Junhee copes with his attachment to Donghun. Also he bakes a cake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you to tumblr user @northisland-southernpeninsula for beta-ing!

The weeks passed by slowly, with Nara and Manager Kim keeping the boys training harder than ever. By the time the end of March came around, all five of them were seriously overworked, and seriously tired.

Donghun especially was having more trouble than the rest. Dancing had never been his strong suit, and he was perhaps the only one out of the five who wasn’t selected for his impressive dancing skills (other than Junhee, but his fellow trainee had always excelled in the dance category anyway). It always took him almost twice as long as the others just to learn a new choreography, and it took even longer for him to perfect it. The others would tell him that it was all right, to just take his time and nail all the moves, but they could see that he was getting more and more frustrated with each passing week.

One day after a particularly difficult practice (they were learning two new dances that week instead of one), Byeongkwan held Donghun back as the others were leaving the practice room.

“We’ll catch up with you guys in a bit, okay?”

The others gave confused nods and continued their way out the door. Donghun turned to Byeongkwan with a puzzled expression.

“What is it, Byeongkwan?”

Byeongkwan sighed. “Now, I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but I’m speaking as your friend and your dance trainer right now.” The dance trainer card was not one he pulled often – he felt uncomfortable having to call himself the trainer of the other four, whom he was growing quite fond of. However, sometimes it was necessary. “But I’ve noticed that you’ve been having a bit of trouble with the dances lately.”

Donghun sighed too and put his bag down. “You noticed, huh?”

“Don’t worry,” said Byeongkwan. “I’m not going to rat you out.” He knew that it was one of the worst fears of a trainee to be reported on their lack of progress. Walking up to the other, he placed a USB in Donghun’s hands. “Take this.”

“What is it?”

“I really wanted to help you out,” Byeongkwan said, scratching the back of his neck. “So I stayed up and made a mirrored video of me dancing to all the songs that we’ve learned so far. I hope it’s not too much, I just really couldn’t stand seeing you struggle when I knew I could help, and also I tried my best to dance to your parts but I don’t know if I might’ve messed up and danced to my part by accident but it should be similar enough and – ” His rambling was cut off by Donghun giving him a quick but tight squeeze. “Oof.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Donghun grasped Byeongkwan by the shoulders and shook him a little bit, rattling the other boy. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”

“Uh huh,” managed Byeongkwan, still a bit stunned by the usually laid-back Donghun.

“I’ll make sure to study this often. This is going to help so much.”

“I was also thinking that if you don’t mind spending the extra time, I’m willing to stay longer after practices to go over some of the moves with you,” Byeongkwan offered. “Only if you don’t mind, though.”

“Ah, no, you don’t have to do that for me,” Donghun shook his head rapidly, his earring swaying back and forth like a pendulum. Byeongkwan’s eyes followed it, intrigued, before he remembered that he was in the middle of a conversation and snapped out of it.

“Remember, I’m speaking as a dance trainer here,” he said, mustering up the most stern-looking face he could. “It’s my job to help you dance to the best of your abilities. So, if you don’t mind, then I’d gladly sign you up for extra practice.”

Donghun looked to be contemplating the offer. A spark shone in his eyes and he nodded firmly, seemingly settling upon a decision.

“Well then, Trainer Kim, consider me signed.”

\-------------

Winter faded into spring. The leaves on the trees slowly grew back, the frost disappearing from the grass and the flowers on the sides of the streets transforming from tiny buds on stems into blossoms in full-bloom. Naturally, this was Junhee’s favourite time of year. Everything was so full of life, so bright and eager to get on with the change of seasons. He was too. Catching a glimpse of some pigeons, back from wherever they migrated to in the colder months, he smiled and pinched off a corner of the wrap he was holding to throw to them.

“Here, eat, be merry.”

A few more pigeons arrived at the promise of food, and Junhee walked away from the small flock of birds feeling extremely pleased at his good deed.

It was the early morning of a beautiful day. Birds chirped as Junhee made his way through a park, grinning and nodding at the old ladies doing their morning stretches on the exercise machines as he walked past them. He had woken up naturally that morning, a good two hours before his alarm was supposed to ring, and that put him in such a good mood that he had decided to walk all the way to practice.

Of course, he somewhat regretted that decision when nearly an hour later he finally made it past King Entertainment’s heavy glass doors, sporting a full head of sweat. It wasn’t enough to dampen his good spirits, however, and he was sure that absolutely nothing could ruin his day.

Then he pushed open the door to practice room three and immediately changed his mind.

There was Donghun, lying with his back flat on the ground, Byeongkwan crouched over him with both hands placed on the older boy’s wrists and staring intently down at him. Junhee watched in slight horror as Byeongkwan moved a hand to Donghun’s thigh and pushed his legs a bit further apart. Junhee couldn’t stop himself and let out a small squeak. Two heads whipped to the doorway in surprise to look at him.

“Oh, hey, Junhee,” said Donghun casually. Junhee just gaped at him. “You’re here early.”

Byeongkwan pushed himself off Donghun, standing up and patting at his clothes. “Come in. I was just teaching Donghun that one lying-down bit in the Superstar choreo.”

“I just can’t do it,” Donghun added sheepishly. Byeongkwan patted him on the shoulder in sympathy.

“Don’t worry, you almost got it just now.”

 _Of course,_ Junhee thought, relieved. _The lying-down bit in the Superstar choreo._ The smile returned to his face as he walked into the room, setting his bags down and walking over to the coffee machine to fix himself a nice cup of espresso. “What time did you guys get here?” He asked, taking a sip of his drink before quickly pulling away and blowing on it because it had scalded his tongue.

“Around 5:30, I think,” Byeongkwan said, checking his watch. “So, two hours ago.”

Junhee’s eyes widened as he finally took in the sweat dripping down the boys’ faces and necks and staining their shirts, evidence of hours of heavy training. “What? Why?”

Donghun had gotten up from his position on the floor, taking a seat on a chair in the corner of the room. He had managed to tie his hair up into a tiny pigtail on the top of his head and was grabbing a delightfully dreadful camouflage-print bucket hat to cover it up. Junhee thought it was the most adorably Donghun thing he had ever seen.

“Well, ah,” Byeongkwan glanced at Donghun, a bit reluctant to explain. Donghun sighed and rubbed his eyes wearily.

“I’ve been struggling with the dances,” he confessed. “So Byeongkwan here is offering to help me. We’ve been sticking in some extra practices whenever we can.”

Junhee set down his mug on the coffee table and strode over to Donghun, who at the moment was looking down with an uncomfortable expression, staring a hole through his shoes. “Hun, if you needed help you could have just told me, you know.”

“I know,” Donghun mumbled. When he didn’t say anything else, Junhee clapped him on the shoulder and took a big swig of his coffee.

\-------------

It’s not that Donghun was embarrassed to tell Junhee. He knew that if there was ever anyone who wouldn’t judge him for not being able to keep up with the others, it would be Junhee. He was probably the kindest person he knew, not a single aggressive bone in his body, always willing to put others before himself.

That’s why he could not tell him.

Donghun brushed a wet lock of hair out of his eyes. They were currently two hours into practice, or for him and Byeongkwan, four and a half hours. He watched in the mirror as Junhee and Byeongkwan, who stood in front of the others, slowly demonstrated a particularly complex dance move involving way too much crossing of limbs. Seyoon stared in intense concentration, and Yoochan mimicked the dance on his own off to the side. When it was their turn to try, Seyoon and Yoochan stumbled a bit, but they managed to finish without too much trouble. Donghun, on the other hand, couldn’t recover from the first mistake he made and ended up blundering through the entire routine. He caught a glimpse of the look of sympathy Junhee gave him and he felt his heart plummeting into his stomach in guilt.

Junhee had already been dealing with him for two years. He didn’t need to burden him more.

Another hour filled with painful mistakes and sympathetic glances passed before they finally took a break. Donghun took a seat on his chair in the corner, discouraged.

It wasn’t the first time that he felt he had been holding the other back. Junhee was so gentle, so charismatic, so talented, and definitely didn’t need to spend his time doing extra practice. He had originally planned to just try harder and wish for the best, so when Byeongkwan had offered to help he was immensely grateful. This could mean the difference between debut and getting kicked out of the company.

“What are you thinking about?”

Junhee sat down on the ground next to Donghun, resting his chin on the other’s thigh. Donghun absent-mindedly patted his head. “Nothing.”

“Hm.” Junhee stayed silent for a little while. Donghun watched as Byeongkwan and Yoochan started a pretend-fight on the other side of the room, Seyoon standing at a distance and shaking his head, the corner of his lips twitching into a small smile. Suddenly Junhee lifted his head up, shaking Donghun’s hand off him.

“Did you want to go to the park today?” He asked, eyes bright. “I think they’re opening up the dog park again.” Donghun smiled and shook his head.

“As much as I would love to pet some dogs, I can’t,” he sighed. “I have to stay behind for extra practice tonight.”

Junhee huffed. “With Byeongkwan?” Donghun nodded. “I don’t understand why you didn’t tell me,” Junhee mumbled. “You’ve always told me before.”

Donghun thought about the sympathetic looks, about the reassuring smiles. His heart ached.

“You should go to the dog park,” Donghun said, ruffling Junhee’s hair, who made a small noise of protest and tried to pat it flat again. “You deserve a break.”

Junhee didn’t say anything, opting instead to lay his head back on Donghun’s leg and sit in silence until Byeongkwan clapped a few minutes later to indicate the end of break.

\-------------

“Hey, Junhee?” Yoochan poked his head through the door. Junhee was crouched over in his room, carefully spraying some water onto a cactus. He looked up at his name.

“Hey, Yoochan. What’s up?”

“I’m just going to go to the supermarket for a bit. Did you need anything?”

Junhee straightened up, placing his spray bottle down. “Could you get me some icing, please? I’m going to try baking today.”

“Are you sure?” asked Yoochan apprehensively. The last time Junhee tried to cook something, they ended up having to eat frozen food for three days as they waited for the mechanic to come and repair their busted stove. Somehow, he had managed to spill milk in all four operating stovetops and failed to notice the burning smell until the fire alarm started screeching and the stove gave a crackling wheeze before enveloping the apartment in horrid cloud of smoke. Yoochan was pretty sure he still hadn’t completely gotten rid of the burning smell in his hair.

Junhee looked defensive. “I’m sure,” he said, crossing his arms. “I’ve read the recipe over and over. It’s just cake.”

“If you say so,” Yoochan said, adding icing onto his shopping list. “I’ll be back in two hours.”

“Make sure it’s chocolate!” Junhee called out as Yoochan left.

After the other boy had locked the front door, Junhee slumped down onto his bed. Now that Yoochan was gone, it was just him in the apartment, something that he wasn’t very used to. Seyoon had slipped out after practice as usual, but not without a quick “Goodbye.” Junhee smiled at that. Progress was being made. Donghun and Byeongkwan were probably still in the practice room, learning some sort of dance move or other. He hoped they had moved on from the lying-down bit.

Junhee was concerned. It wasn’t like Donghun to keep something from him. Before, when he fell into his slumps he would always come to Junhee first before anyone else. _Did I do something?_ Junhee pondered, vaguely spritzing a few more cacti with some water. _I must have done something. I must have said something that made him upset with me._

He decided to distract himself by starting on his cake. He was quite excited about this – he had seen the recipe online a few days ago, and had been carefully gathering all the necessary ingredients to bake his very own Oreo-drip chocolate cake. He had to make some substitutions – did anyone actually use brown sugar? – but he was determined to not let this cooking project fail like usual.

As he made his way out his room, Pickles emerged from inside the bathroom, meowing incessantly at him in her hissy, irritating way. Junhee bent down to give the cat a quick scratch behind the ear. She hissed at him and darted between his legs into the kitchen.

The recipe called for sugar, eggs, flour, all the other ingredients that normally go in a cake, and of course, Oreos. Junhee pulled everything he needed out from the pantry, eager to get started.

“Let’s see here,” he muttered, tying an apron around his waist as he studied the recipe on his phone. “I’m supposed to preheat the oven and mix a bunch of stuff together. Sounds easy enough.” He shrugged and turned the knob on the oven to the required heat, then followed the instructions on the recipe and dumped a bunch of ingredients into one large mixing bowl. At one point he accidentally cracked a bunch of eggshell pieces into the mixture, but he was pretty sure he managed to scoop all of them out.

“You know, this isn’t going that bad so far,” Junhee said to Pickles, who was licking herself beneath the counter. She ignored him completely. “I think this’ll be a really good surprise for the guys. They’ve been working so hard, I think they forget to eat properly sometimes. Hey, maybe even you’ll get a piece, Pickles. Wait, can cats eat cake?” He paused in his attempt at making the Oreo mixing to pull out his phone and pull up Naver. “Can…cats…eat…cake…” With his free hand, he pressed the Start button on the blender, completely forgetting that he hadn’t put the top on yet. Immediately, chunks of Oreo and buttercream started flying everywhere.

“Oh wait, no, no, no – ”

He quickly unplugged the machine and breathed a small sigh of relief, covered in Oreo goop. From her hiding place under the counter Pickles seemed to glower at Junhee, and he rolled his eyes in return.

“Okay, fine, that was a small mistake, but I only made it because I was preoccupied with _you_. Stop judging.”

Once he had finally finished preparing the cake, all three layers of it, along with the Oreo buttercream topping, he placed his creation into the now pre-heated oven and stood back, immensely satisfied. _The other four will be so pleased_ , he thought happily to himself. _They’ve been working so hard. They deserve a treat._

“And now, we wait,” he sighed, sitting back down and gazing at an uninterested Pickles who was still lurking around underneath the counter. She glanced at him briefly before returning to her business of licking herself. _Great, even the cat ignores me._

Junhee didn’t exactly know why he was so upset. Sure, this was probably the first time in two years that he and Donghun hadn’t come back from the practice room together, but it’s not like Junhee had developed any attachment issues. Donghun was just pretty much the only real friend he had in the company.

 _Until now,_ Junhee thought, smiling. He pulled out his phone and opened up his photo gallery, grinning when he came across a photo of Donghun, Yoochan, and Byeongkwan all gathered in Seyoon’s bedroom. Donghun and Yoochan were holding onto a cake with brightly lit candles, Byeongkwan was off to the side mid-clap, and Seyoon was lying in bed, a murderous scowl upon his face. Yoochan had told Junhee that it was Seyoon’s birthday the day before, and Junhee had quickly organized a small surprise party to wake Seyoon up. It was only until a groggy and irritated Seyoon informed them that his birthday was in fact May 15th, not March 15th, that Yoochan double-checked his calendar with a sheepish look on his face. Nonetheless, it was a delicious cake, and all five of them ended up throwing a “Happy exactly two months before your Birthday” party for Seyoon. Junhee smiled fondly at the memory.

He flipped through some more photos – there was Yoochan posing with some cherry blossoms, Byeongkwan and Seyoon quarrelling over whose turn it was to clean the kitchen, Yoochan posing with Pickles, Byeongkwan and Donghun immersed in a game of cards, Yoochan posing with a grumpy-looking Manager Kim. He paused at a selfie that he had taken of himself and Donghun. He was grinning brightly at the camera, and Donghun was looking at him with exasperation written all over his face. He remembered that day – it was right after the March trainee evaluation. All the trainees had to prepare a solo piece to sing, and he remembered Donghun wanting to sing the most boring traditional piece in existence. He had managed to convince Donghun last-minute to switch to Flashlight, which he had heard the other practicing non-stop in the shower, and when Donghun later walked out of the evaluation room with a weary but satisfied expression and the staff members went on to announce that Lee Donghun had received the highest evaluation score that day, Junhee felt his chest swelling with pride. He took the selfie to commemorate the occasion.

Perhaps he was being too clingy. He was extremely fond of Byeongkwan, who was only trying his best to help Donghun at the one thing he was most insecure about. His only problem now was getting used to the idea of opening up the little two-person world that he and Donghun had built to let other people in.

A thud at the front door startled Junhee out of his thoughts. It startled Pickles too, who hissed and arched her back up, ready to fight.

“Yoochan? Is that you?” Junhee called out, but there was no reply. He slowly got up out of his chair and made his way to the front door, looking out through the peephole. Upon seeing nothing but an empty hallway, he pulled the door open and looked down.

“Oh, look. It’s the weekly flyer. I wonder what’s on sale this time – hey!”

Before Junhee had a chance to grab the flyer and find out what exactly was on sale this time, Pickles darted in between his legs with a screech and disappeared around the corner. “Oh no,” Junhee muttered and immediately took off after the cat, slamming the apartment door shut behind him.

Pickles was surprisingly fast for an animal that just lies around and does nothing all day. By the time Junhee had sprinted past the corner, he caught a glimpse of her tail before it vanished into the stairwell. He dashed over to the stairwell as well, bounding up the stairs two at a time. “Yoochan…is…going…to…kill…me…” he grunted. “Stupid…cat…”

For a split second, he wondered if this was even worth it, and if he should just ditch his valiant attempt and just return to his apartment (he had always been more of a dog person, anyway), but an image of an upset Yoochan flashed in his head and he sighed, continuing his trek up the stairs.

He ended up chasing the cat all the way to the very top of the staircase. She had stopped to lick her paw, but when she saw him she hissed and scurried out the open door to the roof.

“Oh no, you don’t,” Junhee growled and lunged for her. He managed to grip onto her midsection and tried his best to avoid the claws that were flying everywhere. In his haste, he accidentally kicked over the plank that was propping the roof door open, and with a crash and an echoing bang the door slammed shut behind him. Junhee didn’t even notice, he was too busy wrestling with an angry cat.

“I got you now,” he muttered through clenched teeth as Pickles finally decided to settle down in his arms. “You troublesome little – ”

He gripped onto the door handle and pulled. The door wouldn’t budge. He pushed. It still wouldn’t budge.

“Wait. No. No.” Junhee pushed and pulled some more, rattling the door against its hinges, but it was no use. He was locked outside on the roof. “No, no, no, no.” He felt around his pockets, and _of course_ he didn’t bring his phone with him. He glared at the cat in his arms that had gone suspiciously still, as if somehow sensing that this was her fault. “Now it really is just you and me.” He set her down and sank onto the ground with a loud sigh.

“Guess there’s nothing we can do but wait.”

\-------------

Half an hour later, Junhee remembered that he had a cake baking in the oven. Pickles hid behind a chimney top as the boy fell into a door-kicking frenzy.

\-------------

“Oh, hey guys!” Yoochan waved over to Byeongkwan and Donghun, who quickly walked over from the other side of the parking lot to join him. “Are you guys done practice?”

“Yeah,” said a still-sweaty Byeongkwan, digging through his pockets to find his key. “Where’d you go?”

“Just went to the grocery store to pick up a few things,” Yoochan said, gesturing to his bags. Donghun reached over and helped him carry one, and Yoochan gave him a grateful smile.

Suddenly, Byeongkwan paused. “Do…do you guys hear something?”

The other two paused as well and stayed as still as possible.

“I don’t – ” Yoochan began, but Donghun cut him off.

“Wait, no, I hear it too! It sounds like someone screaming.”

They waited a few more seconds to see if the screaming would start up again. When it didn’t, Byeongkwan pulled out his key and adjusted the shoulder strap of his bag. “Well, I guess we were imagin – ”

“HELP! ME!”

All three of their heads whipped upwards at the much louder cry this time. Donghun squinted.

“Is that…Junhee?”

Sure enough, there was a tiny figure waving frantically from the roof, and if Donghun squinted hard enough he could make out Junhee in his stripy pajamas.

“Shh, he’s saying something,” Yoochan whispered, and the three of them quieted down and strained to hear.

“…HELP…LOCKED…ROOF…CAKE…”

“Did he say cake?” Byeongkwan whispered, and Donghun shushed him.

“CAKE…IN THE OVEN…”

Donghun watched as Yoochan doubled back in horror, eyes widening. “Oh my god, he must have left the cake in the oven,” he mumbled, quickly unlocking the front door and dashing up to their apartment. Byeongkwan and Donghun followed close behind.

The moment they stepped into the room, they were greeted by an intense burning smell that clogged up their noses and made their eyes tear up. Coughing, Donghun flung open the oven door and found a charred piece of black, crumbling mess that could only be what used to be the cake that Junhee was yelling about. Upon opening the oven, the room was instantly shrouded with thick, hazy smoke, and the fire alarm immediately began screeching.

“Guys, get out!” Donghun shouted at the others, who scrambled to run back out the apartment.

“Where’s Pickles?” Yoochan asked, but Donghun had already shoved him out the door and was pushing him toward the stairwell along with the other residents, who were slowly stumbling out of their own apartments with confused and annoyed looks on their faces.

When they returned back to the side of the parking lot, they squinted up at the roof, and sure enough there was Junhee, waving with one hand and holding a cat in the other.

“He’s got Pickles!” Yoochan yelped. “We need to get them down!”

“The door won’t open from the inside when it’s locked,” said Byeongkwan. “I’ve tried.”

Donghun groaned in frustration and ran a hand through his hair. Only Park Junhee could get himself stuck in this sort of situation. “Well, what else can we do?”

“Why don’t you call the super?”

All three of them jumped and spun around to come face to face with Seyoon, who had just appeared out of thin air, back from God-knows-where. He was sporting a small, amused grin on his face, as if he was enjoying the current situation.

Byeongkwan scoffed. “I don’t think Superman works in this area of Seoul,” he said, rolling his eyes. Seyoon stared at him in disbelief.

“No, you buttmunch, the _superintendent_.”

“The super’s on holiday,” said Donghun. “Not back until next week.”

Seyoon shrugged. “Well, guess he’ll just have to stay there until then.”

In the end, a red-faced Donghun had to go up to the firefighters that came to inspect the building and ask them to get his friend off the roof. They did, with an annoyed grumble of “teenagers” (Donghun debated whether or not to tell them that they were in their mid-twenties, but decided against it), and soon Junhee and Pickles were back on solid ground.

“Pickles!” Yoochan cried, and the cat meowed and let herself be scooped up into his arms. Donghun gave Junhee a look. Junhee shook his head.

“Don’t ask.”

When they were finally allowed to go back into their apartment, all five of them immediately got to cleaning the smoke-stained kitchen. Luckily, nothing was broken, and the only actual damage done was to the cake, to the inside of the oven, and to Junhee’s spirits.

“This is why I can’t leave you alone,” Donghun sighed as he removed the singed racks and propped them up against a cupboard. Junhee had to bite back a smile at the words.

When they finished an hour later, the five of them sat at the table in tired silence until Seyoon burst into laughter. After the initial shock wore off, the rest of them followed, and pretty soon all of them were doubled over, crying from the hilarity of it all. Pickles slunk off unnoticed into Yoochan’s room.

“I, Park Junhee, vow to never bake again,” Junhee gasped, placing a hand over his heart. “And to stop burning down our kitchen.”

Byeongkwan wiped his eyes. “Hey, everyone’s gotta be bad at something, right?”

“I told them to call the super, and Byeongkwan’s reply was that Superman doesn’t work in Seoul,” Seyoon snorted, and suddenly all of them were laughing again.

Sitting back, Junhee looked around the table with a smile. Yes, he was glad that he had these moments, and these people to share these moments with. It felt nice to make his little world a little bigger. He grabbed the opened box from the counter and held it out to the others.

“Oreo?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> new chapter up!! this time it's all about junhee~ poor guy just can't catch a break  
> as always, if you wanna chat hmu on tumblr @kim-seyooned or just leave a comment!! also i did actually find a recipe for oreo cake on pinterest so if anyone's interested here it is lmao  
> http://www.janespatisserie.com/2016/08/15/oreo-drip-cake/


	7. The '97-Line

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byeongkwan meets some of Yoochan's friends, who call themselves the '97-line. Seyoon keeps surprising him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you to @northisland-southernpeninsula for beta-ing <333

_Knock, knock, knock._

“Coming!”

Byeongkwan put down his spatula and wiped his hands on his apron before hurrying over to the door and opening it. In front of him stood a tall, grinning boy, holding a bag of chips and waving eagerly. Byeongkwan blinked. He’d been momentarily blinded by how bright that smile was.

“Hey, is Yoochan here?” The boy asked, still beaming with the power of a million suns.

“Uh, yeah. Hey, Yoochan! Your friend’s here!” Byeongkwan called. A few seconds later, a flustered-looking Yoochan burst out of his room, still wearing his Rilakkuma pajama pants. He brightened up when he saw the boy in the doorway.

“Seokmin! You’re here early, I’m not even dressed yet!”

The boy, Seokmin, just laughed and clapped his hands like a seal. Byeongkwan was fascinated by how squinty his eyes got. He didn’t know it was possible to look so much like the sun.

“This is Lee Seokmin,” said Yoochan, and Seokmin gave a friendly wave. “He’s a friend from school.”

“Oh, you guys go to the same college?” Byeongkwan asked, quickly returning to the fried rice that was currently simmering on the stovetop. Yoochan nodded.

“Seokmin is majoring in vocal performance,” he beamed. “He’s amazing.”

Byeongkwan turned the heat off the stove and turned around, grinning at Seokmin. “That’s awesome. I’m Byeongkwan. Are you guys hanging out here today, or…?”

“Nope! We’re going to the dog park today,” said Yoochan, happily taking the bag of chips from Seokmin. “You wanna come?”

“To the dog park? Hell yeah.” Byeongkwan removed his apron and hung it up. “Just give me a few minutes to eat.”

“Oh, cool, what are we eating?” Yoochan hopped onto a chair at the kitchen table, and Byeongkwan shot him a look as he carried his plate over.

“ _I_ am eating kimchi fried rice. _You_ are eating your nasty leftover Chinese takeout. Seriously, Yoochan, it’s been four days.”

Yoochan looked like someone had kicked his cat. Byeongkwan watched in horror as the younger boy widened his eyes, stuck out his lip, and gave him the saddest look he had ever seen.

“Please?”

 _No, no, no,_ “Okay, fine.” Byeongkwan sighed and pushed his plate over. “But you’re throwing out the takeout.” _Stupid Yoochan with his stupid puppy dog eyes._

Yoochan cheered and produced a pair of chopsticks from out of nowhere. “Thanks, Kwan!” He dug in, and Byeongkwan sighed and longingly watched the rice he had painstakingly cooked quickly disappear.

At that moment, Seokmin let out a particularly loud quack. Byeongkwan stared at him until the other pulled out his phone and he realized it was his ringtone.

“Hey, Chan, Gyu just texted me. He said he and the others will be here soon.” Yoochan briefly looked up to flash Seokmin a thumbs up before immediately returning to inhaling his meal.

“The others?” Byeongkwan asked. “Who else is coming?”

“Well, let’s see,” Seokmin put his phone in his pocket and counted on his fingers. “There’s Mingyu, Minghao, Bambam, and Yugyeom. So that’s four more.”

“You forgot Jungkook,” muffled Yoochan with his mouth full.

Seokmin grinned and slapped his forehead. “Of course! How could I forget Kookie? So, five.”

“We call ourselves the ’97 Line,” Yoochan beamed.

Byeongkwan sighed and refolded up the towels to stack on the kitchen counter. He didn’t like it when the green one was on top of the pink one because the colours didn’t look nice together. “Are you sure you want me to go with you guys?” He asked. “I don’t want to interrupt – ”

“Shut up, Kwannie, you sound like we asked you to chaperone us,” said Yoochan, rolling his eyes. “You’re only a year older.”

Byeongkwan raised an eyebrow. _Kwannie?_ He didn’t question it.

“Oh, you’re a ‘96-er?” Seokmin asked brightly, taking a seat at the table as well. “Does that mean you go to college too?”

Byeongkwan had gotten up again, deciding to just make himself some toast and call it a day. He shook his head. “I never went to college. Right out of high school, I moved out and joined a dance crew here in Seoul and became a professional dancer.” He noticed the other two had stopped what they were doing and were looking up at him with amazed faces. “What?”

“That’s so brave,” Yoochan breathed, and Seokmin nodded vigorously beside him. “I could never do that, my parents would murder me.”

Byeongkwan shrugged. “My parents didn’t really care.” That was a complete lie. His parents very much did care, it was just that he didn’t care that they cared. Memories of secretly packing up his belongings and slipping out in the middle of the night flashed through his mind, and he shuddered. His mother seemed to be warming up to the idea after seeing his videos on YouTube, though, or at least that was what he gathered from the messages she left him in his voicemail. His father never left any messages.

The toast popped out of the toaster and Byeongkwan absently plucked the pieces out, spreading on some butter. There was a knock on the door, and Yoochan bounded out of his chair to the door. “I’ll get it!”

The door opened to reveal five smiling boys standing outside in the hallway. One of them was holding the most adorable-looking puppy Byeongkwan had ever seen. (Pickles, who had been prowling around under the table while Yoochan ate, gave a venomous hiss and disappeared around the corner.)

“Hey, guys!” Yoochan greeted. “Come in.”

Five boys bustled into the crowded kitchen, ooh-ing and ahh-ing even though Byeongkwan really didn’t think there was that much to ooh and ahh about. They noticed him and smiled in acknowledgement. Byeongkwan swallowed the bite of toast he had taken.

“Hey, my name is – ”

“Kim Byeongkwan,” the lanky, brown-haired boy finished for him in a surprisingly soft voice. Byeongkwan blinked.

“Uh, yeah. That’s me.”

“Do you know him, Hao?” Yoochan asked curiously. A smile crept across Hao’s face.

“I’m subscribed to his channel. I’m a big fan.”

“Wait, I think I am too,” said another one of the boys, a taller, strong-looking one. “BKDance, right?”

“Right,” Byeongkwan nodded, surprised and a little embarrassed. It wasn’t often that people recognized him.

Yoochan was looking back and forth between them, a smile wide upon his face. “Did you know Kwannie choreographs for NOVA?” He said proudly, as if he was the one choreographing for NOVA, and Byeongkwan flushed. Immediately all the other boys burst out chattering in awe.

“No way, NOVA? That’s sick.”

“Your work is awesome, man.”

“What’s it like to work with them, Chan? I bet they’re amazing in person.”

Yoochan pouted. “You know, I haven’t actually met them yet,” he said dejectedly. Byeongkwan had forgotten he was such a big fan of the group. He hadn’t realized the extent to which the younger boy admired them until he had walked in one day on Yoochan practically making a wallpaper in his room using an assortment of glossy NOVA posters. “We’ve only been practicing on our own.”

“I think the company’s plan is to have us finish learning everything first, and then they’ll have all of us practice together the last few weeks.” Byeongkwan finished a piece of toast and washed it down with some orange juice. At least Donghun wasn’t around to judge him for eating breakfast food at 6:00 PM.

Yoochan finished his plate of rice and placed it in the sink to “wash later,” although Byeongkwan knew that meant it would remain unwashed until Seyoon came home and did the dishes for everyone because he couldn’t stand living in “a goddamn landfill.” He gave Byeongkwan some quick introductions.

“Why’s your name Bambam?” Byeongkwan blurted out before he could stop himself. Bambam immediately burst into a big smile and everyone else rolled their eyes.

“He told us it’s because –” Yoochan began, but Bambam cut him off by hastily rolling his own sleeves up and violently flexing his biceps one at a time.

“Because of these guns! Bam, and bam!”

Behind him, Jungkook sighed and covered his face with his palm. Byeongkwan’s lips twitched. “Well, it’s nice to meet you Seokmin, Minghao, Mingyu, Jungkook, Yugyeom, Bam…and Bam…”

When they had finally left the apartment, Byeongkwan had found out that the two named Minghao and Yugyeom were both majoring in dance at college and had quickly struck up a conversation about their experiences.

He listened wistfully as Minghao and Yugyeom eagerly described their packed schedules and complained about their endless assignments. Truth be told, he was jealous of them. As much as he loved to dance, it was exhausting trying to make an entire career out of it. He longed for what Minghao and Yugyeom had – to be able to go to class every day and learn what they love, with boundless hope and infinite possibilities for the future. But school was expensive, and Byeongkwan knew that without his parents’ support he would never be able to afford it.

“–Professor Choi paired us up for our new performance, and guess who I got paired with? Jung Jaehyun.” Seokmin’s panicked voice rang out loud and clear above everyone else’s.

“What’s the problem?” Jungkook asked, stroking the puppy in his arms. “Isn’t that a good thing?”

Seokmin looked scandalized. “Of course not!”

“But you never shut up about him. Every day it’s Jung Jaehyun this, Jung Jaehyun that – ”

“You don’t understand,” Seokmin hissed, snatching the puppy away and cuddling it. “It’s _Jung Jaehyun._ He is an angel sent from heaven. He is a god amongst men. He is absolutely perfect in every way. If he punched me in the face, I would thank him.”

“So, what’s the issue, then?” Jungkook gently took the dog back from Seokmin, who seemed distracted. Seokmin threw his hands into his hair in distress.

“If I try to sing with him, I’ll probably lose my voice or embarrass myself and ruin my entire reputation,” he moaned. Bam and Bam rolled his eyes and patted him reassuringly on the back.

“Don’t worry, my dude. You have no reputation.”

\-------------

When they finally reached the newly opened dog park, Jungkook set the overjoyed puppy down on the grass, and it instantly took off sprinting into the distance. He blinked and then ran off chasing it, yelling for it to come back.

It was a beautiful park. Actually, Byeongkwan didn’t really notice the park, because there were currently millions of dogs of all shapes and sizes occupying it. Apparently, every single dog owner in Seoul had heard about the re-opening of the largest dog park in the city and had all collectively decided that today was a perfect day to visit. He was in heaven.

Seokmin, Minghao, and Mingyu had wandered off to an elderly couple on the benches to chat with them and pet their three panting pugs. Jungkook was still chasing his puppy around the park, and Yugyeom and Bam and Bam had joined in. Yoochan grinned at Byeongkwan and tugged on his sleeve, guiding the two of them over to stand underneath the shade of a tree.

“You guys seem really close,” Byeongkwan observed. Yoochan nodded, eyes crinkling in laughter as he watched Yugyeom trip over nothing and bring himself and Bam and Bam tumbling down onto the grass.

“We were all on the same dorm floor last year,” he explained. “And a bunch of them were on the school’s dance team with me.”

“You were on a dance team?”

“I led it.” Yoochan beamed and puffed out his chest in pride, and Byeongkwan couldn’t resist ruffling the other boy’s blonde hair.

“It sure sounds fun.”

“It is,” Yoochan smiled. “Stressful, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.” He grinned at Byeongkwan. “Kind of like this backup dancing thing we’re doing right now.”

“Hey, guys!” called out Mingyu as he and the others walked up to join the two. Jungkook had managed to put a leash on his puppy, who was pattering obediently behind him. “I think this might be the best day of my life!”

Byeongkwan sighed in content as he gave the puppy a quick pat and listened to the others chattering happily. This was the kind of thing he missed in his life. He missed feeling young, feeling carefree, when instead every day since the day he turned eighteen he had been too preoccupied with paying the bills. It felt nice to just hang out with friends and enjoy the weather.

A small but formidable force suddenly toppled into his legs from behind, and Byeongkwan had to reach out to grip Yoochan on the shoulder to keep from falling over, letting out a small shriek of surprise. He became even more surprised when Seokmin, of all people, suddenly went silent and gave the most precisely 90-degree bow he had ever seen. He spun around and came face to face with –

“Seyoon?”

Seyoon stared back at him in surprise. “Byeongkwan?”

“Seyoon?”

“Yoochan?”

The formidable force, which turned out to be a massive golden retriever, stood up on its hind legs and pounded its paws on Byeongkwan’s chest. Byeongkwan gave a grunt of pain and Seyoon quickly pulled on the dog’s leash.

“No, bad Bubby, down boy!”

Seokmin had straightened up from his bow. “Hello, Seyoon,” he greeted in such a mute, respectful tone that Byeongkwan had to double-check if it was really him speaking. Seyoon nodded firmly back at him.

“How do you guys know each other?” Yoochan asked, confused.

“You know that idol group that I was training to be a part of?” said Seokmin, scratching his head.

Yoochan nodded. “Yeah, the one that got disbanded because the company went bankrupt. What about it?”

Seyoon pursed his lips in a thin line. “We were both a part of that group.” Yoochan’s eyes widened comically at this.

“ _No way, really?_ ”

“Seyoon wasn’t just part of it,” Seokmin chuckled. “He was the leader of it.”

Byeongkwan felt his jaw drop open. “Seyoon, you were an _idol?_ ” No matter how he looked at it, Kim Seyoon did not seem like the idol type to him. He was so quiet and stone-faced, and was prickly like a cactus if you tried to talk to him. Which Byeongkwan did, a lot. Seyoon shook his head.

“I was _almost_ an idol,” he corrected. “And so, what? We see Donghun and Junhee every day and you guys aren’t freaking out about them.”

“Well, we’re used to them. You on the other hand…” Byeongkwan shook his head in disbelief, muttering “an idol” to himself under his breath.

Bam and Bam held up a hand. “Wait, wait, wait, you guys work with _Park Junhee?_ ” He asked incredulously.

“We live with him, too,” Yoochan shrugged. Bam and Bam stared at him.

“ _And you didn’t tell me?_ ”

“I didn’t know you’d be so interested, Bambam,” said Yoochan. “If you want you can come over anytime. Junhee will probably make you ramen.” The other boy seemed to love this idea judging from the way he nodded eagerly, and Byeongkwan didn’t have the heart to warn him against eating anything Junhee cooked.

Eventually, they found themselves slowly walking laps of the park with Jungkook’s puppy leading all of them as they went around and around. Byeongkwan and Seyoon trailed after the ’97-liners, who were happily rattling on amongst themselves, probably about some stories from college or the sort. Byeongkwan turned to Seyoon.

“So, Kim Seyoon, care to explain why you have a kid?”

Seyoon gazed at him in confusion before suddenly glancing down at the baby strapped to his torso, as if he had completely forgotten it was there. The baby was currently fast asleep, head fallen forward and mouth open as it drooled on Seyoon’s chest. “Right. I’m babysitting.” The golden retriever let out a playful whine and pawed at something under a pile of leaves. “And dogsitting.”

Seyoon must have noticed Byeongkwan staring intently at the baby, because he bent around on an angle so the other could see its tiny face. “This is little Minah,” he said, smiling softly down at the little girl. “And this handsome dog here is Bubby.”

Byeongkwan raised an eyebrow. “Bubby?”

“Well, his real name is The Honourable Sir Bartholomew Fitzgerald the Second, but Minah can only say Bubby.”

Byeongkwan smiled affectionately at this and bent down to give the happy dog a scratch behind the ear. “Well, it’s an honour to meet you, Sir Bubby,” he said. Seyoon pressed his lips tightly together as the corner of his mouth twitched. Byeongkwan straightened up again. “Not that it isn’t great that you’re helping families out like this,” he said, “but why? We barely have time to take care of ourselves these days.”

Minah stirred in her sleep, and Seyoon absent-mindedly bounced her up and down as they continued walking. “The family doesn’t need me a lot,” he said, patting the baby’s back. “It’s just that today the parents had an emergency business meeting and they couldn’t find anyone to watch Minah and Bubby, so I told them I’d do it.”

Byeongkwan couldn’t hold back the grin that spread across his face as he watched the other pat a sleeping-soundly Minah with one hand and grip tightly onto Bubby’s leash with the other. “Huh, who would have guessed?” He laughed, tilting his head to one side. “Kim Seyoon, Ice Prince, good with kids.”

Seyoon just scowled at him and turned away, but not before Byeongkwan caught the small twinkle in his eyes.

\-------------

When the sun had begun to set, Yoochan and the other members of the ’97-line waved goodbye as they headed off to Yugyeom and Bam and Bam’s dorm room. They had invited the other two along, but Seyoon had declined, saying that he had to take Minah and Bubby back home to put them to bed. Seokmin couldn’t help but look a bit relieved at that, and Byeongkwan wondered what kind of tyrant leadership Seyoon had brought upon his previous idol group.

Byeongkwan chose to go back to the apartment instead, deciding to let Yoochan have a bit of time alone with his schoolmates. Besides, it had been a while since Byeongkwan had enough free time to go through his social media, and he was looking forward to a lazy Friday afternoon spent in bed.

He dumped his coat and keys on his table upon returning, quickly shooing Pickles out of his room before sprawling out on his springy mattress. It didn’t look like anyone else was home yet. Donghun and Junhee often stayed out together, usually at the King Entertainment building. Byeongkwan often worried for their health, because as trainees they had to endure a lot more than him. He remembered the first time he had seen Donghun and Junhee preparing for a trainee evaluation. Junhee spent hours locked in his room, carefully monitoring previous practice videos, while Donghun simply stopped eating any more than an apple and a spoonful of rice per meal. When Byeongkwan had told him in concern to eat more, Donghun had sadly explained that if he didn’t reach the target weight every month, it would mean immediate disqualification as a trainee, and he had grimaced before taking another bite of his apple. Byeongkwan shook his head. He could never be a trainee.

He fumbled around with his headphones a bit before turning on some music and blasting it at full volume. He had long since accepted his fate of premature hearing loss, because how could he really _feel_ the music unless he let it shake him to his core? His fingers naturally drummed against his thigh to the beat. This was one of the first songs he ever danced a cover to on his YouTube channel, so it held a sort of nostalgic importance.

His mother had called him again this morning, and as usual, he had grit his teeth and waited for the phone to stop ringing. Byeongkwan knew that he couldn’t go on ignoring her forever, that one day he would have to pick up that phone, but he didn’t feel quite ready for that yet. He’d burn that bridge once he got there.

It wasn’t even his mother that he was really avoiding. It was more the idea that anything he said to his mother would automatically be passed on to his father that frightened him. Even when he was a child, Byeongkwan’s father had always been strict, never speaking to Byeongkwan unless it was regarding the report card that had been mailed home and how it would never get him into a good college. He was right, Byeongkwan indeed did not end up in a good college (or any college at all), and as much as he hated to admit it he was terrified of how his father would react if he knew what he was doing now.

Byeongkwan had always felt like he grew up too suddenly. It was like he was shoved head-first into a fantasy land that he had always dreamed of but was not prepared to experience in real life. He thought about Yoochan, about how happy he was to be with his friends and how nice it must feel to belong in a group. It had been such a long time since Byeongkwan felt he belonged.

\-------------

Two hours later, Byeongkwan groggily opened his eyes. A glance at his digital clock told him that it was 9:30 PM. His ears ached and the pounding of the still-playing music rattled in his brain.

 _I must have fallen asleep by accident,_ Byeongkwan thought to himself, rubbing his eyes tiredly and rolling out of bed. It made sense, given how exhausted he had been lately. Making a mental note to get started on checking his YouTube comments as soon as possible, he headed to the kitchen for a quick snack (it turned out buttered toast for dinner just didn’t cut it for him).

As he passed by the common area, he noticed flickering lights bouncing off the walls signaling that another person was home. He stuck his head around the corner.

Sure enough, their television was turned on and an animated movie – was that Dumbo? – was playing across the screen. The flashing from the television illuminated the room. Other than that, it was pitch black.

No one seemed to be there. Curious, Byeongkwan silently sneaked into the room. He was just about to turn the lights on to see a bit better when he heard a quiet sniffle coming from the sofa. He paused and crept up behind it, nosily leaning over the edge and peering downwards.

He was met with Seyoon, slouched down on the sofa, hugging one of Donghun’s throw pillows, and looking up at him frozen in shock with big, glassy eyes.

Byeongkwan stood up straight as if he had been electrocuted. Seyoon instantly flinched away, sinking as deeply as he could into the cushions and desperately avoiding eye contact. A few excruciatingly awkward seconds passed, and Byeongkwan cleared his throat.

“So, uh – ”

“Don’t start.” Seyoon voice quivered and he grabbed a few tissues to furiously dab at his eyes. Byeongkwan nodded.

“Right, sorry.” They stayed like that for a bit longer, Byeongkwan shifting around on both feet. Seyoon’s hands shook, but his gaze was fixated on the television screen. Dumbo’s mother, stuck behind bars, had just scooped up her baby in her trunk and was singing lovingly to it. Seyoon wiped away more tears.

Suddenly, Byeongkwan turned on his heel and left the room. Seyoon allowed himself to glance at the door where the other boy had disappeared for a few seconds, then turned himself back towards his movie.

As a tear dripped down Dumbo’s cheek, Byeongkwan reappeared. Seyoon gave a start as the other boy plopped down on the sofa beside him, holding onto a tub of rocky road ice cream and two metal spoons. He held one out to Seyoon.

“What are you – ”

“Take it,” urged Byeongkwan, prodding the other boy with the spoon. “This always makes me feel better.”

Seyoon hesitated, but eventually his hand closed around the offered spoon handle. Byeongkwan gave a small smile and pried the lid off the tub of ice cream. He scooped some into his mouth, sighing contentedly and leaning back into the softness of the sofa. Seyoon glanced at him from the corner of his eyes.

“Are…are you going to stay?” He asked.

“Yeah,” said Byeongkwan. “Well, unless you don’t want me to,” he added in a smaller voice, but Seyoon gave a small shake of his head.

“No, you – you can stay.” He took a tentative spoonful of the ice cream and brought it to his lips.

Byeongkwan let himself sink into the pillows as they silently resumed watching the movie, Seyoon occasionally sniffling beside him. This was probably the saddest atmosphere that he had ever watched a Disney movie in, but he wasn’t complaining, and when Seyoon wordlessly leant his head on the younger’s shoulder and he looked down to find the other fast asleep, he didn’t complain either.

YouTube comments could wait.

\-------------  
Just a little after midnight, Yoochan quietly closed the door of the apartment behind him, clicking the lock in place. The entire apartment was dark save for the faint, blue glow emanating from the common room. Yoochan didn’t hear anything, so after setting down some cookies that Mingyu had baked onto the counter, he headed over to turn off the television that someone had probably accidentally left on.

He was greeted by the sight of Seyoon and Byeongkwan on the sofa, Seyoon’s left cheek resting on Byeongkwan’s shoulder and Byeongkwan’s right cheek pressed against the top of Seyoon’s head. A blue television screen enveloped them in a cool, thrumming glow. Yoochan smiled at the scene. He reached over for the remote and turned the television off, before heading to his room and grabbing his comforter. He left, not without giving Pickles a pat on the head and disturbing her peaceful slumber, and returned to the common area, carefully spreading his comforter over the two boys who were still fast-asleep. They looked so docile at this very moment. Yoochan bit back a giggle when he thought about how irritated Seyoon was going to be when he woke up.

That, he was leaving completely to Byeongkwan to deal with in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys!! how are you doing? ^^  
> i couldn't resist adding the '97-line in here, bc i feel like yoochan would fit right in!! can someone pls add him to the squad group chat  
> also seyoon is so s o f t and we learn a bit more abt youtube sensation byeongkwan oohoohoo  
> hmu on tumblr @kim-seyooned!! <3


	8. The Prank War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title is pretty self-explanatory. It's April Fool's in the boys' dorms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you @northisland-southernpeninsula for beta-ing <3

Seyoon stood in a big, grassy field. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and fawns were prancing off into the horizon. He smiled gently as a butterfly fluttered onto his nose, blue and purple wings tickling his vision and making him go cross-eyed. In the distance, someone was singing a familiar melody, and it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. Seyoon took a few steps toward the voice. He had to find out who its owner was. A rainbow spread majestically across the sky, enveloping Seyoon in a prism of colour.

Then all of a sudden, the clouds opened and the rain poured down like a tsunami.

Seyoon shot up straight in his bed, sputtering and coughing as he was woken up from his serene sleep. “What the hell – ”

Byeongkwan stood above him, an evil grin wide upon his face and hands clutching a now-empty bucket. “Happy April Fool’s, sucker!” He turned on his heel and dashed out of the room, cackling all the way. Seyoon groaned and stumbled toward the washroom, cursing the name Kim Byeongkwan and every higher power that held authority over his own misfortune.

\-------------

Lee Donghun was not having a good morning.

He was rudely woken up by the blaring sound of his alarm. Groaning and head pounding, he rolled over, fumbling for a bit before managing to shut the offending thing off. The clock read 8:30 in bright, red numbers.

Donghun yawned, rolling over on his bed.

He abruptly rolled back. Wait, 8:30? Normally he had two more alarms set before this one was supposed to ring. _Oh no,_ he thought as he hauled himself out of bed. _I must have slept through them. Oh, the others are going to kill me._

He grabbed his pants and hobbled into the bathroom on one leg, making a valiant effort to walk and change at the same time. He quickly splashed some water on his face in an attempt to wake himself up, before staring at his reflection in the mirror and using the water to pat his hair down too.

“No time to shower,” he muttered to himself as he hastily spread some toothpaste on his toothbrush. Trusty Crest, having minty fresh breath always helped to wake him up.

“No time to eat!” Donghun gasped as he grabbed his bag (thank goodness he had packed the night before) and slipped out the door. A few seconds later he returned, having forgotten to change out of his slippers and into his running shoes, and promptly left again.

It was an unusually quiet Saturday morning. The air was chillier than normal, and Donghun shivered against his sweater as he hurried toward the subway station. He raced past a few joggers who sent him encouraging shouts and thumbs-ups. Once he made it into the station and stood by the tracks, waiting, he checked his phone. 8:47. His lock screen, a picture of him and Junhee from a trip they had made to Jeju Island a year ago, vanished as a “Good Morning!” message popped up from his clock app. He pocketed his phone again as the subway rolled into the station.

Thirty minutes later, a sweaty and wide-eyed Donghun swung open the door to practice room three with a loud announcement of “Hey guys, sorry I’m late!” He blinked as he was met with a completely empty room, all except the cleaning lady who was holding a mop and looking at the intruder standing on her newly cleaned floors with an irritated expression. Donghun cleared his throat and carefully took a step back, out of the room.

“Where are the other dancers?” He asked politely. “Why aren’t they here?”

“Why are _you_ here? That’s the better question.” The cleaning lady sneered.

Donghun was confused. “I’m here for practice. In fact, I’m late.”

“Late?” The cleaning lady shook her head. “Might want to check that time again.”

“What do you mean? Isn’t it 9:20…” Donghun’s voice trailed off as he caught a glance of the clock hanging up in the practice room, the clock that currently read 4:20 AM. He blinked, all the nervous energy suddenly flying out of him and replacing itself with rage. The cleaning lady resumed mopping, an uninterested look on her face.

“Park Junhee says Happy April Fool’s, by the way.”

“God fucking damn it, Park Junhee!”

\-------------

Yoochan sleepily clambered into the shower, eyes still closed and legs feeling like dead weights. He had been up way too late last night. It would have been better if he was doing something productive, like homework, or eating, but instead he had found himself mindlessly playing level after level of a Bejeweled rip-off on his phone, not noticing it was 4 AM until his phone started flashing at him to charge it.

He kept his eyes closed as he felt the warm water washing over him, smoothing out the tension in between his shoulders and the slight ache in his neck from sleeping in a weird position. He felt like an old grandpa with creaky joints. Yawning, he fumbled around for his shampoo bottle and dumped a generous amount onto the top of his head. He realized his mistake too late, and by the time he remembered gleefully switching the shampoo for vegetable oil last night he had already stuck two hands in his hair and started lathering.

“No, no, no, _no, no!_ ”

Well, at least now he was awake.

He stepped out of the shower (after thoroughly rinsing his hair five or six times) and stared at his reflection in the foggy mirror. He couldn’t exactly see the damage yet, but he felt so gross. He was a little happier, however, when he ran a comb through his hair and found that it was the smoothest he had ever felt it.

Yoochan patted some more water out of his eyes and picked up his toothbrush, squeezing a bit of toothpaste onto it and sticking it in his mouth. He always sang the Barney theme song in his head as he brushed because his mother had told him as a child that one sing-through of the song was the amount of time he was supposed to take brushing his teeth.

_Barney is a dinosaur from our imagination..._

Yoochan leant over the sink, rinsing his mouth. He was distracted mid-gargle by his toothbrush. The bristles looked strangely…blue? He quickly spat out the toothpaste, which was the same colour. Yoochan gave a wide grimace in the mirror and stared in shock as he was met with the reflection of a boy with greasy blonde hair and teeth that were dyed a striking, _very_ bright shade of blue.

In the corner of the mirror was a message written in marker. Yoochan leaned forward and peered closely at it.

_Happy April Fool’s, Channie!_  
_~Love, Kwannie~_

\-------------

“I think we all know why I called this meeting today,” said Junhee, an amused smile on his face as he took in the appearances of his fellow teammates sitting around the table. Donghun had just woken up the second time that morning, and he was currently dozing off with his head resting on the palm of his hand and his elbow on the table. Seyoon was still drying off his hair, looking murderous. Yoochan’s oily hair hung limply down and stuck to the sides of his face, and he kept his mouth firmly shut for reasons that Junhee could only guess had to do with the blue tint on his lips. Byeongkwan, amusingly enough, looked unharmed.

“I can only imagine,” Seyoon scoffed, shooting another glare at Byeongkwan who pretended not to notice.

Junhee held up his hands and counted on his fingers. “Let’s see, I pranked Hun,” he said proudly, “Byeongkwan pranked Seyoon and Yoochan – nice job, by the way,” Byeongkwan nodded in acknowledgment, “and Yoochan somehow pranked himself.” Yoochan groaned and held his head in his hands. “So that makes four pranks so far, and it’s not even 7:30.” Junhee sat back in his chair and beamed at the others. “I’m proud of you guys.”

Seyoon groaned and kicked the leg of the table in annoyance. Off to the side, Donghun let out a little snort as his head fell off his palm and he was jolted awake. “What’d I miss?” He asked abruptly, sitting up straight.

“Don’t tell me you’re encouraging this,” Seyoon said to Junhee, who only shrugged.

Byeongkwan laughed good-naturedly. “Oh, lighten up, Seyoon. It’s all in good fun.” Seyoon shot him another death glare.

“ _You_ weren’t the one who woke up soaked and freezing today.”

“Okay, okay,” Junhee grinned, clapping his hands. “Seyoon’s right, we can’t go too overboard. If it’s going to be too much of an issue, I can call for a truce this April Fool’s.” Byeongkwan looked put out at this.

“Or…” Donghun watched on warily as Junhee continued, grin slowly widening. He knew what that grin could entail. “We could keep this going. Make today the greatest prank war the world has ever seen since Punk’d was on TV.”

“That’s a great idea!” Byeongkwan yelled at the same time Seyoon protested that it was the worst idea he’d ever heard. “I vote prank war! What happens if you win?”

Junhee thought it over. “Winner gets first dibs on the bathroom for a week? And loser does their chores?”

Byeongkwan slammed a fist on the table and stood up. “Deal!”

“No deal!” Seyoon pushed Byeongkwan back down into his seat. “This is stupid. I can’t believe we’re having a meeting over this.”

Junhee shrugged. “Majority wins, Seyoon. Byeongkwan and I vote for prank war.”

“So do I,” Yoochan piped up, a hand delicately covering his mouth as he spoke. Byeongkwan sent him a knowing smirk.

“What are you covering there, Channie?”

Yoochan hesitated for a split second before lowering his hand and flashing the others an unenthusiastic grin. Immediately, Junhee and Byeongkwan doubled back in peals of laughter, and Donghun chuckled along. Even Seyoon couldn’t hide the amused smile that spread across his face as he looked at the younger boy.

“You look like you ate a Smurf,” Junhee gasped, and Yoochan closed his mouth again in frustration.

“Don’t worry, Chan.” Byeongkwan patted the pouting boy on the back with one hand and wiped tears from his eyes with the other. “It’s just food colouring. It’ll wear off in a bit.”

“So that looks like it’s three against two, then,” announced Junhee, delighted. “Prank war it is!”

\-------------

**Current Prank War Scores:**  
Kim Byeongkwan: 2  
Park Junhee: 1  
Kang Yoochan: 1 (against himself, but still 1 nonetheless)  
Lee Donghun: 0  
Kim Seyoon: 0

\-------------

“I’m going to get you back, you know,” Seyoon whispered as they made their way into the King Entertainment building. Byeongkwan looked back at him, surprised. He hadn’t realized the other boy was still thinking about his unfortunate wake-up call that morning.

“What?”

“I’m going to get you back for this morning.”

Byeongkwan scoffed. “How? You’re going to prank me?” Seyoon shrugged.

“No,” he said mysteriously, stretching out the word and not bothering to elaborate any further before pushing open the entrance and slipping into the building. Byeongkwan raised a questioning eyebrow and followed, the glass door clicking shut behind him.

\-------------

“And you put your arm up like this – bam! No, no, Yoochan, with a little more force, bam! Bam! Watch how Junhee does it – ”

They had taken way too long that week to learn the weekly song, and the relief was evident on all the boys’ faces when Byeongkwan gave a small clap and announced that they had finally finished learning the last segment of the choreography and were ready to put it all together.

“I’ll play the song from the beginning,” said Byeongkwan as he wiped some sweat off his forehead with his towel. “As usual, don’t worry about making mistakes right now. Just try to dance as much as you remember.”

It was a piece nearing the end of the concert set list, one that started off slow and quiet and gradually grew in intensity. The dance incorporated elements of ballet and interpretive mixed all together with hip hop, and all the boys felt quite lucky that Byeongkwan had been taught the dance beforehand to be able to help out even on the days that Nara was not there.

The music began softly with all five boys kneeling, crouched down on the ground and heads hanging low. Each time they began this routine, it required the utmost concentration and absolute silence, because it was so quiet that all of them had to strain to hear.

It was the same on this particular day. The only sounds in the room were the quiet hum of the music and the labored breathing of its inhabitants, kneeling in position. The music flowed through the open air and into their bodies as they let themselves be swept away by it, almost as if they were floating in the wind. It was beautiful.

And then suddenly, they were rudely interrupted by the blaring honk of an air horn.

“Ow!” Donghun hissed, because in his shock he had clamped his jaw shut and bit down hard on his tongue. In his corner of the room Yoochan had stumbled and fallen over, and Seyoon was muttering curses under his breath with both hands held tightly over his ears.

“Byeongkwan, what the hell?” Junhee demanded, and the rest of them looked up to see Byeongkwan in his position at the far right, laughing his head off.

Byeongkwan pressed the pause button on the sound system and bent over to catch his breath. “Oh, you should’ve seen your faces,” he sighed happily as he wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. “Priceless.”

After some collective grumbling and general annoyance, Byeongkwan waved out an insincere apology and started the music from the beginning again. This time they were all a bit more prepared for the unwanted interruption, the striking sound only inciting a couple gasps, and everything was back to routine, back to floating in the wind until they were promptly interrupted by the second air horn, a few seconds after the first.

Seyoon broke away from his position in the circle they had formed and marched over to a snickering Byeongkwan, and Junhee had the appropriate instincts to quickly hold him back before he could do what he intended to, which was to kick the other boy. Byeongkwan quickly gave Seyoon a look of mock seriousness and shook his head.

“I don’t think so, Seyoon. Go back to your place in the circle. Don’t you know dancers must constantly be ready for any disturbances in their performance and learn to work around them?”

No one could argue that statement, especially when it came from their dance trainer himself, and so begrudgingly they started the routine again, this time prepared for however many air horns Byeongkwan could throw their way. It ended up being twenty-one in total, the shock factor wearing off a little each time but never fully dying down. By the end of the day when staff members came to monitor their progress (with an unaltered audio clip that Byeongkwan had been hiding all along), Donghun had a swollen tongue, Byeongkwan had tears in his eyes, and Yoochan had to lie and say he had the hiccups when Nara asked why he was flinching every ten seconds.

\-------------

**Current Prank War Scores:**  
Kim Byeongkwan: 3  
Park Junhee: 1  
Kang Yoochan: 1  
Lee Donghun: 0  
Kim Seyoon: 0

\-------------

Donghun groaned and sank down into a chair, digging a finger into his ear. “You suck,” he told Byeongkwan, who was entirely unbothered by the comment and leaned against the wall, eating an apple. “I’m going to be hearing air horns in my sleep for the next month.”

“More like the next year,” said Yoochan, rolling his eyes. He half-heartedly tossed a paper cup, which ended up completely missing Byeongkwan’s head and fell with a soft thump on the ground in front of him. Byeongkwan shrugged.

“I was just giving you guys some endurance training,” he said, taking another bite of his apple. He paused mid-chew when he felt someone’s stare boring into the side of his neck, and he looked over to find Seyoon observing him intensely, dark eyes never leaving his face. “Can I help you?”

Seyoon shook his head. “Oh, no. Just, uh, I’d be careful what I eat on April Fool’s Day.”

Byeongkwan immediately spat his apple out, looking at Seyoon with wide eyes. “What did you do to my apple?” He demanded, but Seyoon just looked at him, confused.

“I didn’t do anything,” said Seyoon, and Byeongkwan thought his eyes looked a little _too_ innocent. “I was just giving you a warning.”

\-------------

“This is my nephew. He’s two this year.”

Yoochan leaned in closer to coo at the adorable baby on Junhee’s phone screen. Donghun smiled fondly at the picture, leaning over the others on the couch to grab his drink from the coffee table. Four of them were relaxing in the company’s lounge area, a place that they did not get to go often but liked to sneak into occasionally. Seyoon, as per usual, had left immediately after practice, so Junhee, Donghun, Byeongkwan, and Yoochan were all squeezed onto one sofa as Junhee eagerly showed the others photos of various family members.

“Is he still just as loud?” Donghun asked, because he had met the little boy once the year before and was completely drained of energy at the end of the day because the baby’s screaming had completely sucked it out of him. Junhee beamed.

“Louder!”

At that moment, Junhee’s phone dinged and a contact photo of Manager Kim popped up on the screen, indicating that he had sent him a message. “Oh, hang on.” Junhee read the text quickly with his eyebrows furrowed, then sent an apologetic glance to the others. “I’ll be right back, okay?”

After he had left the room, the remaining three boys shuffled into more comfortable positions on the sofa. Byeongkwan and Yoochan immediately shot Donghun suspicious glances when the older boy started snickering to himself. Throughout the day all of them had continuously (and understandably) gotten more and more paranoid.

“What’s up?” Yoochan finally asked. He was answered with a mischievous smile and a nod in the direction of the door Junhee had just left out of.

“Junhee’s getting a surprise.”

\-------------

Junhee sat in a chair in one of the empty practice rooms he had found, eyes glued to his phone screen. Manager Kim was a texter – it was the only way he preferred to communicate, and whenever he texted Junhee it was usually about something important, so Junhee liked to be alone whenever they cyber-spoke.

**\---Saturday, April 1, 6:33 PM---**  
**Manager Kim:** Hello, Park Junhee. May I speak with you?  
**Park Junhee:** Hello, Manager Kim! Of course!  
**Manager Kim:** I hope your practicing is going well.  
**Park Junhee:** It’s going great, thanks for asking! What did you want to talk to me about?  
**Manager Kim:** NOVA are holding the press conference for their upcoming tour on April 10th. I trust you and the other dancers will be able to attend?  
**Park Junhee:** You want us to attend the press conference?  
**Manager Kim:** I believe it will be a good way to meet the members as well as gain important information about the tour. You five will, of course, be sitting in the audience. You can attend, right?  
**Park Junhee:** According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The bee, of course, flies anyway because bees don’t care what humans think is impossible. Yellow, black, Yellow, black. Yellow, black. Yellow, black. Ooh, black and yellow! Let’s shake(read more)  
**Park Junhee:** oh my god  
**Park Junhee:** I’m so sorry  
**Manager Kim:** Did you just…send me the entire Bee Movie script?  
**Park Junhee:** According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The bee, of course, flies anyway because bees don’t care what humans think is impossible. Yellow, black, Yellow, black. Yellow, black. Yellow, black. Ooh, black and yellow! Let’s shake(read more)  
**Park Junhee:** OH MY GOD  
**Manager Kim:** I don’t know what you’re doing, Junhee, but I want an answer to my question. Will you be at the press conference?  
**Park Junhee:** WHY DOES IT KEEP SENDING THAT  
**Park Junhee:** According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The bee, of course, flies anyway because bees don’t care what humans think is impossible. Yellow, black, Yellow, black. Yellow, black. Yellow, black. Ooh, black and yellow! Let’s shake(read more)  
**Park Junhee:** I’m so sorry omg, we will be there, According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The bee, of course, flies anyway because bees don’t care what humans think is impossible. Yellow, black, Yellow, black. Yellow, black. Yellow, blac(read more)  
**Park Junhee:** I AM SO SORRY MANAGER KIM, WE WILL BE THERE  
**\---Saturday, April 1, 6:39 PM---**  
**Park Junhee:** …Manager Kim?

\-------------

“Lee Donghun!”

The door crashed open and the three boys currently giggling on the sofa immediately shut up. Junhee marched inside with a fiery look in his eyes. “What did you do to my phone?”

“How do you know it was me?” Donghun retorted, standing up defensively. Junhee glared back at him.

“You’re the only one who knows my password, dumbass.”

“Okay, it was me.” Junhee looked a little surprised at how quickly Donghun had given in, but that was quickly replaced with indignation once more when Donghun started chuckling.

_“What did you do?”_

“Calm down.” Donghun held his hands up, and Byeongkwan and Yoochan looked on curiously to find out exactly what he had done. “I just tweaked your phone settings a little bit, you know, turned off Bluetooth, optimized your battery life, set your keyboard to automatically input the entire Bee Movie script whenever you typed ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ that kind of stuff.”

Byeongkwan and Yoochan howled with laughter while Junhee stared at Donghun, unimpressed.

“I was just going to text you a little later,” Donghun continued, “But who would’ve thought Manager Kim would end up texting you instead? It was so perfect!”

“For you! This could have gotten me kicked out!”

“Oh please,” Donghun said, placing a hand on Junhee’s shoulder. “There’s no way they would kick _you_ out just because of this. Come on, it’s funny. I bet he was so confused.”

Junhee stared a little longer at Donghun, then sighed and cracked a smile. “Yeah, it was pretty funny, actually,” he chuckled, and Donghun beamed at him and patted his back.

“Happy April Fool’s, Park Junhee. That’s payback for this morning.”

\-------------

**Current Prank War Scores:**  
Kim Byeongkwan: 3  
Park Junhee: 1  
Kang Yoochan: 1  
Lee Donghun: 1  
Kim Seyoon: 0

\-------------

Seyoon was there to greet them when they got back to the apartment, an apron tied around his waist and grilling some beef on the stove. He looked up as the door opened.

“Oh, hey guys.”

“Hey, Seyoon.” They entered one by one, taking their shoes off and placing it on the shoe rack. Seyoon turned off the stove and held out a box of Oreos.

“Cookie?”

They each took one, thanking him, except for Byeongkwan, who only scoffed and crossed his arms.

“Seriously, the Oreo trick? You really think I’m going to fall for that?”

Seyoon gave him a questioning glance. “What?”

“Don’t act dumb.” Byeongkwan rolled his eyes. “You replaced the cream with toothpaste, right? It’s the most basic April Fool’s prank out there.”

“Says the guy who dumped a bucket of water on me,” muttered Seyoon. “I didn’t tamper with the cookies.”

Byeongkwan scoffed again. “I’m not trusting you. Don’t eat that.” Yoochan, who had a cookie halfway to his mouth, pouted.

“But I’m starving!”

“That could be toothpaste filling.”

Yoochan shrugged. “I’m willing to take the risk.” He popped the cookie in his mouth, taking a few tentative bites. Byeongkwan watched him warily, but Yoochan only shrugged at him and reached out to take another from the box. “It tastes fine to me.”

Byeongkwan furrowed his eyebrows and took a cookie as well, cautiously taking a bite. Yoochan was right, it tasted completely normal. No trace of toothpaste at all. Trying to ignore the smirk on Seyoon’s face, he finished the rest of his cookie and headed to his room. “Fine, whatever,” he grumbled as he left, and Seyoon snorted from where he still stood in the kitchen.

A few seconds later, a piercing screech came from Byeongkwan’s room that caused Donghun and Junhee, who had gone to their side of the apartment, to come tumbling through the washroom in panic. Yoochan’s face lit up.

“He finally saw it!” He grinned. Seeing the confused looks on everyone’s faces, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a cutout of a giant bug. “I stuck it on his lamp.” Junhee hooted and patted Yoochan on the head like a proud dad.

“Finally, someone got Byeongkwan.”

\-------------

**Current Prank War Scores:**  
Kim Byeongkwan: 3  
Park Junhee: 1  
Kang Yoochan: 2  
Lee Donghun: 1  
Kim Seyoon: 0

\-------------

The rest of the day passed by rather uneventfully, with Junhee successfully tricking Yoochan into walking into a doorway covered in plastic wrap, and Byeongkwan failing at getting Donghun with the classic “bucket of water propped on the door” trick because Donghun slipped through the crack in the door without even budging it.

Byeongkwan was antsy. Seyoon kept dropping hints that he was going to get Byeongkwan back for the water stunt he pulled that morning, and Byeongkwan was beginning to regret ever coming up with the idea every time he caught Seyoon sneaking scheming glances at him. Why hadn’t he remembered how much Seyoon loved his sleep?

Every single time he tried to take a seat somewhere, he would catch Seyoon lurking around the corner, and thoughts of if the other had somehow broken the chair would flash through his mind as he decided to just stand instead. When he wanted to crawl into bed, Seyoon coughed as he snuck by his room, and Byeongkwan gulped as he thought of other critters that could possibly be crawling in the bed with him. Even when he went to the washroom he had to check every nook and cranny before making sure that nothing was going to pop out at him or secretly film him.

It was torture.

The last straw happened when Byeongkwan had finished getting ready for bed and hesitated before entering his room. The day was almost over. Clearly, that meant whatever Seyoon had planned for him was going to happen sometime very soon. Could it be the door? He placed his arm through, but nothing happened. No, he didn’t mess around with the door.

He stepped inside. Could something be hiding in his closet? He flung the doors open, but all he was met with were piles of his clothes stacked haphazardly on the shelves.

He looked under the bed, under the blankets, behind the curtains, but absolutely nothing seemed out of the ordinary. As hard as he tried, Byeongkwan could not figure out what the prank was, and in a fit of anxiety and annoyance mixed into one confusing emotion he found himself pounding on Seyoon’s door.

“Come in!” Called a voice from inside, and Byeongkwan barged in.

Seyoon was sitting in front of his laptop at the desk. When Byeongkwan entered, he swiveled around in his chair, almost as if he had been expecting the intrusion. He raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”

“I give up!” Byeongkwan yelled, startling Seyoon. “I surrender! Whatever you’re going to do, just do it now because I can’t stand this anymore!” He squeezed his eyes shut, ready to face the full impact of whatever Seyoon was going to throw his way.

But nothing happened. After a few seconds of stillness, Byeongkwan cracked an eye back open. Seyoon was still sitting in his chair, staring at him in silent amusement. “What are you talking about?” He asked, voice full of mirth.

“A-aren’t you going to prank me?” Byeongkwan asked, confused.

“Stop looking so tense. I said I was going to get you back, not prank you.” Byeongkwan still looked confused, and Seyoon rolled his eyes. “I _did_ get you back, didn’t I? Look how nervous you are.” He snorted.

Byeongkwan blinked. “Y-you were never going to prank me?”

“That’s what I said, isn’t it?” Seyoon swiveled back around to face his laptop.

“So all that sneaking around, all those hints you dropped, you were just –”

“I was just messing with you.” Seyoon shut off his laptop and got out of his chair, heading out the door to the bathroom. He smirked at Byeongkwan as he passed by him. “Happy April Fool’s.”

Byeongkwan was left silently standing in the doorway of Seyoon’s room, eyes wide in shock and mouth ajar. It wasn’t often that the boy was rendered speechless, but at that moment he had absolutely no idea how to feel or what to say. Seyoon had pulled the cruelest prank of all – the prank that never was.

\-------------

**Final Prank War Scores:**  
Kim Byeongkwan (winner): 3  
Park Junhee: 2  
Kang Yoochan: 2  
Lee Donghun: 1  
Kim Seyoon: 1?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!!  
> First of all, THANK YOU FOR 100 KUDOS! I appreciate every single one of them so much <3  
> This is the a filler chapter that ended up way longer than I expected. I hope the story hasn't been going too slow for you guys! I really wanted this to be like one of those slice-of-life kinds of things (like Friends), so it's all about the journey ^^ but the next few chapters should really start to pick up, so I'm pretty excited for that!  
> As always hmu on tumblr @kim-seyooned!! if you want to :)


	9. The Nation's Sweetheart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys finally meet NOVA and the famous Kim Seokjin. It brings up some of Junhee's past memories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (oops this turned out longer than i intended) Thank you @northisland-southernpeninsula for beta-ing!

“Where is this thing again?” Byeongkwan asked as he tucked in his dress shirt.

“King Ent. Head office,” said Junhee, flattening his hair a bit. “They have a conference room on the main floor. We need to leave soon. Where’s Yoochan and Seyoon?”

“I’ll get them.” Donghun got up from his seat on Junhee’s bed and tripped over his own feet as he left the room. Byeongkwan shoved Junhee away from the other boy’s own mirror.

“Stop hogging.”

Junhee huffed slightly and sunk into the spot on his bed that Donghun had just vacated. “You’re the one who’s in my room,” he muttered, and resumed fixing his hair without a reflection.

A minute later, Donghun reappeared in the doorway, dragging a stone-faced Seyoon and a wide-eyed Yoochan in with him. “Got them! Yoochan’s still not ready.”

“How can I be?” Yoochan wailed, while Seyoon stood behind him pulling at his collar. It was itchy. “I’m meeting NOVA today! I think I’m going to die!”

Donghun gave the panicked boy a gentle thump on the back. “Calm down. They’re just people, like you and me. Go change your shirt.” Yoochan ducked out of the room with a sharp exhale, clutching his shirt to his chest. Donghun smiled fondly as he left.

“He’s so nervous, bless his heart.”

Junhee scoffed. “There is absolutely nothing to be nervous about. The NOVA members are all just giant dorks. Trust me, I’m related to one.”

Byeongkwan laughed and jumped onto the bed beside him, lying sprawled onto his back and bringing Junhee tumbling down next to him. “I can confirm. They were like a bunch of harmless puppies when I worked with them. I was a little scared of your cousin at first, but he turned out to be, like, the nicest guy I’ve ever met.”

Junhee rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah, that’s him all right. Nice guy Kim Seokjin, the nation’s sweetheart.” He ran a hand through his hair, effectively ruining all his previous efforts to flatten it. Seyoon, who had remained silent the whole time, took a seat at Junhee’s desk and moved a few cacti out of the way to clear a place to prop his elbow.

“Why do you hate him so much?” He asked curiously. Junhee blinked at him.

“I don’t hate Seokjin,” he said incredulously. “He’s family.”

“Yeah, but you’re, like, weird about him.” Seyoon picked up one of the cacti and poked it without thinking, flinching away when its thorns pricked his finger. Why did he do that?

Junhee sat upright and blew a stray lock of hair away from his forehead. “I’m not weird about him. Where’s Yoochan? Yoochan!”

When Yoochan finally stumbled back into the room with an untucked shirt and hair sticking up in all directions, Donghun tsk-ed and got to work fixing him up before Junhee finally ran out of his last bit of patience and ordered them all to get moving. The press conference wasn’t going to wait for them, and they were supposed to get there early.

Thankfully, the King Entertainment main office building was much closer to their apartment than the practice building was, and so the five of them managed to hustle there with plenty of time to grab some water and find their seats.

“Junhee, this place is _huge_ ,” Yoochan half-yelled, half-whispered as he gripped onto his bottle of water and scurried over to where the others were waiting outside the door. “It looks like the president could live here.”

“You can say what you like about King Ent., but you can’t deny that they’re rich,” Junhee chuckled before holding the door open and letting them all in.

The room was, for lack of a better word, bland. Regardless of how big, how open it was, the walls were painted a boring beige colour that blended into the floor, and a couple plain dome lights decorated the edges of the ceiling. The only pop of colour took form in a giant black and purple banner, profile shots of all five NOVA members on display among a background composed of stars and their official fandom colours. It was dark and gloomy, and Junhee held back a snort at the fake chic poses that each member was making. He ushered the other four boys to some cushioned seats on the left side of the room.

“Sit here, okay?” He whispered. “The middle seats are for the reporters. We want to lay low, this is NOVA’s press conference so the focus should be on them. Now, repeat after me. We. Are. Nobodies.”

“We. Are. Nobodies,” the other four dutifully whispered back, and Junhee smiled proudly.

“Good. Stay here while I go to the bathroom.”

“When are NOVA going to get here?” Yoochan turned to Donghun the moment Junhee left, and Donghun laughed and patted the younger boy’s head.

“Be patient. There’s still ten minutes left before the conference starts.”

The word patient didn’t seem to be in Yoochan’s dictionary, because he continued shuffling around restlessly and asking questions non-stop until Donghun had to clamp his hand on Yoochan’s leg to stop it from bouncing.

Yoochan grinned sheepishly. “I think this is the most cameras I have ever seen in one room,” he said in awe, looking around at all the reporters gathered in the center aisle. “And I go to film school.”

Byeongkwan glanced around too, taking in all the heavy-looking equipment and fancy, high-end cameras that were being hauled on the shoulders of tired but eager-looking reporters, who were chattering away and writing things on their notebooks from their seats in the middle of the room. “It is a lot to take in,” he said, nodding. “I remember for NOVA’s comeback press conference it was even more than this. I ended up squeezing into a seat in the back because reporters kept jabbing me with their elbows.” He smiled at the memory of how overwhelmed he had been, and how Yoochan currently reminded him a little of himself.

Junhee returned at that moment, carrying a couple more bottles of water (they were running out at home). The other four were immediately notified of his return when suddenly a couple cameras began flashing, lenses pointed toward the main door entrance as an uncomfortable-looking Junhee awkwardly smiled and hurried over to his seat.

“I thought you said to lay low,” Donghun smirked, and Junhee groaned as he stuffed his water bottles into his bag.

“I tried, but when a man’s got to go, a man’s got to go. It’s okay, the conference should be starting soon.”

A few minutes later, right when the cameras were dying down again and the room was back to being filled with hushed conversation, a door to the side of the room opened. In the blink of an eye, every single camera was up and pointed at the doorway like gunmen ready to fire, and when the first member walked into the room flashes started going off like crazy from each and every direction.

From beside Junhee, Yoochan squealed, and Junhee placed a cautionary hand on his arm just in case the other boy decided to suddenly shoot up and make a run for the stage. It was a possibility.

Kim Seokjin was the last of the five members to emerge, and when he did the flashes from the cameras became more frantic than ever. Junhee leaned back into his seat. He had to admit, Seokjin looked good. He had recently dyed his normally brown hair blonde, a first for the idol, and it had caused #Kim_Seokjin_Manhwadol to trend worldwide on Twitter because of how much it looked like he had jumped straight out of the pages of a manhwa. As he made his way to the stage, he flashed a glowing smile at the crowd, and Junhee caught the concentrated expressions of at least five different reporters faltering.

The five idols stood in a straight line on stage. Their leader, a bubbly, bright-eyed guy who called himself Suho led them through their greetings before they all took a seat on the stools placed behind them. Junhee liked Suho. He gave him snacks sometimes.

“They’re even cooler up close,” Yoochan whispered in awe as he stared unwaveringly at the stage. The boy didn’t falter in his fanboying, not even when Manager Kim came up to them with pens and paper and told them to take notes. He didn’t even falter when the press conference ended up being the driest hour and fifteen minutes that Junhee had ever had to sit through.

\-------------

“Well, gee, that was really…”

“Boring?” Junhee supplied. Byeongkwan nodded quickly.

“God, that was boring. Who knew they could make a tour sound so much like homework?”

“I thought it was fun!” Yoochan piped up, bouncing beside them as the five of them made their way through the crowded hallways. After the conference had ended, Manager Kim had instructed them to follow a few other staff members to a private room.

Seyoon rolled his eyes. “You would think a particle physics lecture was fun if NOVA was the one teaching it,” he said. Yoochan nodded eagerly in agreement, and the others laughed.

The staff members stopped in front of another conference room, nodding as the five boys bowed in thanks and stepped into the room. It was smaller than the one they had just vacated, but much nicer, the company having actually taken the time to decorate and paint the walls something other than the colour of eggshells. Junhee headed over to the small stage area and took a seat on the ledge, and the others followed suit.

Junhee didn’t notice himself drifting off into thought. In what felt like a far away, murky distance, Donghun and Byeongkwan were discussing the differences between choreographing and producing, and Yoochan was chatting Seyoon’s ear off about the fancy clothes that NOVA had been wearing in the press conference. Junhee paid them no mind.

His thoughts were focused on the bracelet that Seokjin was wearing on his left wrist, a bracelet that the idol wore in every photograph ever taken of him, every fan account ever written about him. It was identical to the bracelet that Junhee kept stored safely in the bottom of his bedside drawer.

“What are you zoning out about?” Donghun chuckled and thumped Junhee softly on the side of his head, and Junhee flopped over to lean on his shoulder.

“Nothing.”

The door to the room softly clicked open, and all five of them shot up. A group of people made their way in, and leading them was a glowing face and a mop of perfectly tousled blonde hair.

“Junjun!”

\-------------

“Junjun!”

A beaming Seokjin let out a small grunt as Junhee barrelled himself into his outstretched arms, toppling them both over. Junhee’s mother tutted in disapproval and helped the two boys stand back up, brushing both of their clothes off. “Park Junhee, look what you’ve done. Now your clothes are all dirty.”

The two boys didn’t care. They clutched onto each other and laughed.

Auntie Kim smiled and placed a hand on Mrs. Park’s shoulder. “Go easy on him, he must be really excited to see his favourite cousin Jinjin again. I know Seokjin’s been going on and on about cousin Junjun all week.” Mrs. Park gave a tender smile and stood back up, patting both boys on the tops of their heads.

“You two are going to behave this weekend, okay? Don’t make a mess, don’t be too loud, and _especially_ don’t leave the house looking like it did last time, okay? Otherwise we won’t let you keep having these weekly playdates.”

Junhee and Seokjin both giggled, but immediately shut up when they both received glares from their mothers. No amount of mischief was worth the risk of losing these weekly playdates. Mrs. Park patted them on the head once more. “Now come on, I made lunch.”

They headed into the kitchen, Junhee and Seokjin jabbering on excitedly about the new racetrack Junhee had gotten for his birthday and the limited-edition toy car that Seokjin had brought just to test the track out. Auntie Kim and Mrs. Park followed the two boys, arms linked together and smiling fondly.

\-------------

“Hey, Jinjin,” Junhee smiled and held his arms out to accept the hug that was coming his way. Seokjin beamed, both rows of perfectly straight, white teeth on display as he gave his little cousin a tight squeeze.

“I missed you,” he said. “It’s been too long.”

Junhee laughed. “Whose fault is that? You’re always busy doing your _comebacks_ , and your _interviews_ , and your _awards shows_.”

“Still!” Seokjin released Junhee from his hold and held the boy firmly by the shoulders. “That’s no excuse for neglecting my little cousin. I’m glad we have the next few months together.”

The rest of the boys awkwardly watched this whole exchange, feeling like it was not something they should be intruding on. Seyoon leant towards Donghun with a raised eyebrow. “I thought Junhee hated him,” he muttered under his breath.

“Junhee doesn’t hate Seokjin,” Donghun whispered back. “It’s…complicated.”

NOVA’s manager, a young, friendly-looking man in a crisp black suit clapped his hands together and backed away towards the door. “I’ll leave you all to formally introduce yourselves, then. Remember, you guys start practicing together tomorrow!” He waved as he let himself out.

Seokjin turned back towards Junhee and smiled warmly, and Junhee gave him a small grin in return. The leader, Suho, opened his mouth, presumably to introduce himself to the dancers and give a small speech about how excited they were to work together and what an honour it was to finally meet them, but Yoochan interrupted him before he could begin with a pile of word vomit that the other four dancers knew he had probably been holding in ever since the press conference began.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe I’m standing in the same room and breathing the same air as NOVA. Oh god, I can’t believe this, this is unbelievable. I’m such a big fan, really. Your biggest fan. I own all of your albums and I have a signed poster of you guys hanging above my bed, and I bought the shirt that you guys wore on your debut stage off an auction online, which sounds kind of creepy now that I say it out loud but I promise I don’t wear it or anything, I just put it on display. My favourite is Taemin – I mean, I love all of you, but my favourite is Taemin because your dancing is just like art and I wish I could dance half as well as you and you’re so good at everything and I named my cactus after you and also I really like your shoes today, can you give me an autograph? Or take a picture? Actually, no, just an autograph is okay, anything – ”

“Jesus, Yoochan, take a breath,” Seyoon said in disbelief, pulling the other boy back as he had been slowly inching closer and closer to the idols, who were standing there in a bemused shock. Taemin in particular was looking like he was fighting the urge to laugh.

Yoochan let himself be tugged back by Seyoon. “Sorry,” he mumbled, and Suho chuckled, a wide grin spreading across his face.

“Hey, don’t worry about it! It’s nice to meet you, too. You can call me by my real name, Joonmyun.” The ever polite leader bowed his head in greeting, and laughed again when all of them (except Junhee, who was already quite familiar with the guy) immediately scrambled to bow back.

Introductions did not take a long time. Junhee, of course, already knew all the members, and Donghun had already met them a few times in passing before. Byeongkwan was well-acquainted with them from the time he had choreographed their comeback dance, and Yoochan had absolutely no need at all to learn any of the members’ names when he had already committed all their birthdays and blood types to memory. That left Seyoon, who did not exactly show the greatest enthusiasm in trying to get to know all these new faces, and so pretty soon the NOVA members found themselves leaving to go to the practice rooms to rehearse for a music show stage.

Seokjin slung an arm around Junhee’s shoulders. “Hey, do you guys mind if I join you later?” He asked his other members. “Right now, I’d really like to catch up with Junhee and his friends.”

Yoochan squealed at this, exclaiming that Seokjin wanted to _catch up with him_ , and the other NOVA members shook their heads before wishing the remaining boys a good day and promising to see them tomorrow. Seokjin turned toward the five boys and ran a free hand through his hair, his blonde locks falling perfectly back into place after.

“You guys want to go get some coffee?”

\-------------

It was around mid-March when it started, right when the teachers were finally beginning to get used to calling him by his name and not as “Kim Seokjin’s little cousin.” Junhee walked around the school cafeteria, clutching his tray in his thin hands and scanning the crowded room for an empty seat. As usual, all the seats in the vicinity were taken, and not a single kid paused in their chattering to spare him a second glance.

Junhee pouted a bit, continuing his search all the way to the far corner of the cafeteria, where all the students who were like him and didn’t have anyone else to sit with occupied a small, run-down table. He took a seat at the far end of one of the benches and picked up his pair of chopsticks.

Junhee had always been a little on the scrawny side, a little on the quiet side, a little on the awkward side, and his mother had always told him that he would one day grow into his own body but he didn’t believe her. He smiled at all the wrong times, answered all the questions in class, and had an unfortunate bowl-cut due to a hairdresser mishap right before school started. In short, he was perfect victim material for bullies to pick on.

And so, they did. Three bigger boys sauntered up to him near the end of the lunch period, mean snickers on the faces as they abruptly shoved the boy forward so that his food sloshed all over his shirt.

“Oh, no, is little baby going to cry for his mommy? Is he going to cry?” The boys made mocking crying gestures at Junhee, and he fought the urge to fling his food into their ugly faces and instead bolted out of his chair. As he made a run for the door, one of the boys stuck his leg out and Junhee promptly went crashing down face-first onto the ground. Trying to ignore the throbbing pain in his elbow and the loud, howling laughter of the bullies, he slowly picked himself back up and bolted out of the room, fist wiping furiously at his eyes.

_Stupid bullies, stupid, mean, stupid, ugly jerks._

Being a middle school freshman was already hard enough, but being a middle school freshman and the target of the three meanest boys in the seventh grade was damn near impossible. Junhee told his mother once, but when the boys approached him the next day and “taught him a lesson” for snitching on them, he never mentioned it again.

His only comfort came in the form of Kim Seokjin, who was the most popular ninth-grader in the neighbourhood. Half of the girls in the grade harboured schoolgirl crushes on him, and even though he was book-smart like Junhee was, he was an affectionate kid, and he knew just the right way to talk to make all the teachers adore him and all the students want to be his friend.

Junhee had been cornered by the mean boys after school one day, two of them holding him back while the other one dumped the contents of his backpack on the ground, crumpling up all the worksheets he had worked tirelessly on for homework. 

“Hey, stop, don’t touch that!” Junhee kicked and struggled, but it was no use – the other boys were much bigger and stronger than him. The one currently destroying his homework gave a shrill laugh.

“Shut up, nerd. This is what you get for being such a teacher’s pet!” He threw the balled-up piece of paper on the ground and stomped hard on it. Junhee watched helplessly and whimpered as his portrait of himself and his family crumpled underneath the other boy’s foot.

“What’s going on here?”

In all the years that Junhee had known him, that was the first time he had seen Seokjin look so genuinely furious. The tall, handsome boy stood behind them, stance strong, arms crossed, eyes dark and blazing with anger. Of course, the others recognized him (who wouldn’t recognize the senior class president?) and after a moment of hesitation and a piercing glare from Seokjin, they dropped Junhee’s backpack and scurried away. Junhee sank onto the ground with wobbly legs.

Seokjin was by his side in an instant. “Junjun? Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Junhee just groaned and dropped his head into his knees in response, and Seokjin stood abruptly, face resolute. “I’ll report this to the principal. I’ll get those – those losers expelled.”

It was a reflection of his character that Seokjin could not say a worse insult than “loser.”

Over the school year, Seokjin became Junhee’s shield. Whoever tried to approach Junhee had to deal with Seokjin too, and the bullying slowly decreased day by day until eventually it stopped. The three mean boys had not gotten expelled, but they had gotten a fair share of demerit points and detention, and whenever they passed by Seokjin and Junhee in the hallway they shot the two of them ice-cold glowers.

Junhee worried that he was like a parasite. Seokjin insisted that it was okay, and that he _wanted_ to hang out with Junhee, but sometimes the younger boy would catch him staring longingly at the “cool kids” table where he and his friends had used to eat lunch together, and he couldn’t help but feel like a leech who had latched onto his cousin’s life and wouldn’t let go.

\-------------

“Did you have any other questions?” Seokjin asked, smiling gently. Yoochan furrowed his eyebrows and thought hard.

“Uh, yeah! What happens if you’re performing, but you suddenly really have to pee?”

Byeongkwan smacked Yoochan in the chest. “What kind of dumbass question is that?” He scoffed, but Seokjin just grinned good-naturedly and took another sip of his espresso.

“Well, let’s see…I guess you’d have no other choice but to hold it,” he said. “But thankfully that hasn’t happened to me yet. All of us make sure to properly empty our bladders before we go on stage.”

Seyoon wrinkled his nose in disgust as he stared down at his tea, suddenly realizing that it was a very unappealing yellow colour. He pushed the cup away from him.

When Seokjin had suggested they all get coffee, he had meant at the company’s kitchen where they owned a coffee machine, since the idol could not walk freely on the streets without being bombarded by screaming fans. Currently they were sitting at a table next to the window, overlooking the nearby busy Seoul streets from the fourth floor. Seokjin had kept them all engaged in pleasant conversation, often interrupted by Yoochan’s eager questions and occasional gasps of awe.

“Wait, okay, so what if you forget the words while you’re singing? What happens then?”

Seokjin laughed. “That’s actually always been one of my biggest fears,” he admitted. “It happens more often than you’d think. Thankfully, the music shows have monitors with song lyrics on them, and in concerts the fans are usually pretty nice about it. If anything, I just point the mic at them and make them sing it.” Yoochan nodded, entranced, and Junhee thought that if Seokjin were to point a mic at him he’d probably sing the song _and_ recite their entire discography and member profiles.

\-------------

“What’s this?” Junhee asked, looking down at the bracelet Seokjin had dropped into his outstretched palm.

“A goodbye present. I got one too, so we can match.”

“A goodbye…you’re moving?”

Seokjin nodded, not meeting Junhee’s eyes. “Yeah. To Seoul.”

Junhee stared at him, at the unhappy expression gracing his cousin’s striking features. Over the summer, he had gone through some extreme changes. His shoulders had broadened out from the workout routine he was trying out, his hair had grown out and was now a dark brown that brushed against his eyes while he studied, and he had shot up in height so that he was one of the tallest in the grade.

“I’m really sorry,” Seokjin said sincerely. “But I won’t even be that far away! Anyang is like, a twenty-minute drive to Seoul.”

“But what about our plans to go to high school together? Who’s going to hang out with me at school? Who’s going to cook for me when Mom and Dad are on their business trips?”

Seokjin placed his hands firmly on Junhee’s shoulders and stared the younger boy in the eyes. “Listen, Junjun, you’re going to have to start taking charge around here, okay? I know your Mom and Dad aren’t around very often. I left you a list of your favourite recipes on the kitchen counter so you can learn how to make them. And make some new friends at high school. Aren’t you going to the same one as your lab partner? That Hobi kid? Maybe you can get to know him. He can use my PS3 controller.”

Junhee swallowed. “Why are you leaving? You still have a year of school left, why are you leaving all of a sudden?” Seokjin’s gaze softened.

“You know, Mom’s work. It’s better for us in Seoul, there’s more opportunities there.”

“I don’t want you to go,” Junhee mumbled, and Seokjin sighed before pulling the boy in for a hug. “I don’t want you to leave. You should’ve told me sooner.”

“Yeah,” Seokjin mumbled into Junhee’s hair. “I should’ve.”

\-------------

Byeongkwan swirled the coffee and foam around in his cup. “So, you two grew up together? Did you go to the same school?”

Seokjin nodded. “Same middle school. I moved away before Junhee could join me in high school, though.”

“Oh.” Byeongkwan grinned. “Well, I can imagine you guys were insanely popular.”

Anyone else but Junhee would have missed the brief glance Seokjin sent him. Junhee ignored it and smiled. “Oh, yeah, this guy here was totally Mr. Popular. All the girls loved him,” he said, jabbing his thumb in Seokjin’s direction. “Nothing’s changed.” Seokjin laughed and flicked him gently on the forehead.

The six of them chatted a bit more, the sun rising higher and higher as the morning slipped into afternoon. It had been such a long time since Junhee had gotten the chance to properly catch up with his cousin again, and as reluctant as he was to admit it, he had really missed the guy. He watched as Seokjin rambled on about a Spelling Bee the two of them had participated in during middle school with a big, goofy smile while the others listened in rapt attention. It was clear that like everyone else, his teammates had completely fallen for the Kim Seokjin charm.

A few minutes later Seokjin’s phone rang, and to Yoochan’s immense disappointment the idol announced that he had to get back to the King Entertainment practice room where his members were waiting for him.

“Hey, you guys should come over sometime,” Seokjin offered as they threw their cups out into the trash and Seyoon dumped the rest of his unfinished tea into the sink. “I’ll make you guys some beef fried rice. It’s Junhee’s favourite, right?”

Junhee didn’t have the heart to tell him that he had long outgrown the taste of beef fried rice and much preferred noodles now. He smiled and nodded. “Yeah, just come find me whenever you’re free.”

As Seokjin waved goodbye and climbed into his manager’s car, Donghun slid up beside Junhee. “You were really quiet today,” he murmured under his breath. “Anything wrong?”

“No.” Junhee shook his head and offered Donghun a small smile, linking their arms together as they started to head back toward their apartment building. “Just thinking.”

\-------------

Park Junhee was the most popular boy in Anyang High School. Handsome, rich, top of his class and well on the way to attending any college of his choice, it seemed like he had everything he could ever possibly want.

Upon entering high school, he had made a pact to himself to turn his life around, to somehow grasp the reigns and get control to change himself into the person that he wanted to be. Judging from the large group of friends that he hung around with and the numerous awards hanging on his wall at home, it seemed that he had succeeded.

It was break time at school, and Junhee sat by the window in his newly washed uniform as he studied the paper on his desk. A few students loitered around in the classroom, but most of them were running around outside, enjoying the spring weather. He glanced out the window briefly before returning his attention to the paper. It was a pamphlet for Seoul University, the university that he had been considering ever since the beginning of last year. It would be a challenge to get in, but if there was one thing Park Junhee wasn’t afraid of, it was a good challenge.

“Hey, Junhee, I think there’s someone here to visit you.”

He looked up at the voice of his classmate standing by the door. Questioningly, he tilted his head to the side, before his curious expression was replaced with one of shock as a familiar-but-not-quite face appeared in the doorway.

“Jinjin?”

Seokjin walked slowly up to him, face spreading into a huge grin and holding his arms out for a hug. “Hey, cousin. You look good.”

“You look…different.” Junhee wasn’t sure if he even recognized the person standing in front of him. Seokjin’s usual clean cut look was replaced with what was undoubtedly a style of incredible high-fashion – he even had on expensive designer sunglasses, which were now perched on top of his forehead. His face, although better groomed and slightly slimmer, still looked just like the high schooler that had disappeared from Junhee’s life three years ago. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m debuting,” came the abrupt and unexpected reply. Junhee blinked.

“What?”

“I’m debuting.” Seokjin gave a big sigh and smiled, almost in disbelief. “I’ve been training in Seoul for the past three years, and now I’m debuting.”

Junhee took a moment to let this sink in. “So, when you left for Seoul, it was – ”

“It was because I got casted,” Seokjin finished for him.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I wasn’t allowed to,” he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I really wanted to, but I had a confidentiality agreement. But now I’m telling you! I think my teaser came out today.” He paused, glancing at Junhee uncertainly. “You aren’t…mad at me, are you?”

Junhee blinked, then shook his head rapidly. “Wh – no, of course I’m not mad! I’m happy for you. Really. Congrats.” Seokjin smiled and ruffled Junhee’s hair.

“Thanks. I just came back to visit everyone since I probably won’t be able to do that again anytime soon. How are your parents?”

Junhee shrugged. “The same. They’re hardly ever around. Dad’s business trips have started getting longer and longer, and Mom’s been in Spain for nearly three weeks now.” Seokjin frowned at this, but Junhee quickly reassured him. “I don’t mind, it’s nice having the house to myself.”

Seokjin nodded, then hesitated. “Hey, uh, Junhee, I actually did have another reason for coming here.” Junhee gave him a questioning look, and Seokjin scrambled to get the words out as fast as he could. “Iwantyoutocomewithme.”

“What?”

Seokjin cleared his throat. “I want you to, uh, come with me. To Seoul. And, uh, join the company I’m at as a trainee.”

Junhee stared at him in disbelief, and Seokjin shuffled around anxiously. “Why?” He finally managed.

“I think you’d do well there. I heard about how much you love to sing, and about all those awards you won from your dance competitions. And it’s _Seoul_ ,” Seokjin said, grabbing onto Junhee’s wrist and shaking it. “So much to do, so many things to see.” He let go, placing his hands back into the pockets of his trench coat. “And, you know, I miss you. I already talked about it with my manager, and he said he’d put a word in with the casting director. Think about it.”

Junhee looked at Seokjin, who was practically begging now, and he thought about his cousin, who had always played with him, who had always taken care of him, who had always been by his side when there was no one else around. He nodded. “I’ll think about it.”

Seokjin’s face split into a huge smile. “Great. I got to go now, but I’ll see you around, okay?” He waved and left the classroom. Junhee heard two girls giggling to themselves off to the side.

“No way, Park Junhee’s cousin is a trainee?”

“What an amazing family, seriously.”

He glanced down again at the Seoul University pamphlet sitting on his desk, then up at the doorway that his cousin had just exited out of, and he breathed out a long exhale, running a hand through his hair.

A few months later, as he sat at the train station with his luggage placed on his lap and a ticket to Seoul Station clutched in his right hand, he wondered if he would ever do anything for himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ta-da!! backstory reveal complete~  
> hey guys!! hope you had a great week ^^ i got a bit of writer's block on this one, so sorry it's a little late! we learn all about junjun in this chapter and about his weird loving relationship/inferiority complex with seokjin  
> as always, find me on tumblr @kim-seyooned!


	10. The Breaking Point

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys prepare for their last few days before tour. Byeongkwan pushes himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the boys prepare for the last stretch of the race before the tour. byeongkwan works a bit too hard to learn the dance.

“ _One_ , two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, _two_ , two, three, four, five, six, seven, again! _One_ , two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, _two_ , two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight – again! _One_ , two, thr – ”

“Byeong _kwan_ ,” Yoochan whined, sinking onto the floor of practice room three with a loud thump. “We’ve been doing this move for the past thirty minutes. Can we move on?”

Byeongkwan paused in his instructions to point an accusatory finger at Yoochan. “Hey. You wouldn’t be complaining right now if I were Nara. You know we’ve been struggling with getting this part down.”

Yoochan pursed his lips in annoyance, and Byeongkwan rolled his eyes.

“Remember last week, when we tried to practice this part with NOVA and you nearly killed one of them? You don’t want that to happen again, do you?”

Yoochan blushed as he recalled how he had fumbled over the steps and backed forcefully into Junmyeon, who was thankfully good-natured enough to wave off the growing bruise the dancer had left on his right arm. Nara, on the other hand, was not as forgiving, and all five dancers had received a very stern talking to after practice that day. Needless to say, they were all a bit stressed after that.

“Fine,” Yoochan grumbled and climbed to his feet again, and Byeongkwan nodded in approval.

“Okay, good. Back to the top. _One_ , two, three, four…”

\-------------

“I think they hate me,” Byeongkwan laughed as he and Seyoon walked into the apartment complex behind the other three. Seyoon snorted.

“I think _I_ hate you.” He groaned in mock-pain as he lifted his legs and climbed up the steps to the front door. “And my thighs hate you, too.”

Byeongkwan lightly punched the other in the back of the knee, and Seyoon hissed as he stumbled over a step. “Suck it up.”

When the five of them finally made it up all the stairs and staggered into their joint apartment rooms, Junhee aggressively tossed his large bag of practice equipment to the side and flopped down onto the couch. “I am going to stay here, and I am going to stay here until tomorrow,” he announced, voice muffled by a cushion. “No one try to move me.”

Yoochan had taken a seat in the kitchen with a bowl of cereal set in front of him. Byeongkwan still could not figure out how exactly the boy could fix himself food so quickly upon coming home. He poked his snack around with his spoon. “I am so glad the tour’s starting next week,” he said, poking and prodding. “I’m so ready to get all this practicing over with.”

“Me too,” came Junhee’s muffled voice from the living room.

“Me too.” Donghun finished unlacing his sneakers and placed them neatly on the shoe rack. “I think this is the most intensely we’ve ever had to train for anything.

“Yeah, but I bet it’s also the biggest thing you’ve ever had to train for!” Byeongkwan sat down next to Yoochan, who was still swirling his spoon around in his bowl. “Think about it, you guys. We’re going to dance with NOVA. Channie, that’s, like, a dream come true for you, isn’t it? And I can’t speak for you, Seyoon, but I know as a dancer that this is the biggest gig I’ve gotten to do so far in my career. And Donghun, Junhee, you guys are _debuting_ after this.” He grinned proudly. “That’s huge.”

Donghun grinned too and patted Byeongkwan on the back. “Thanks, coach.” He picked up his backpack and rummaged through it, pulling out a stack of envelopes and papers wrapped together with an elastic band. “Hey, Park Junhee! Get out here and open your fanmail!”

Instantly Junhee reappeared in the kitchen, face lit up like a child on Christmas morning. “Oh, yeah, I forgot!” Donghun held out the pile to him, and he took and it began sorting through it, separating the letters into different categories. “Here, this pile’s for you, Hun.”

Seyoon peered curiously at the letters. “You guys get fanmail?” He asked. “But you’re not even debuted yet.”

Junhee finished his sorting and happily gazed down at his pile. It was stacked high with pink and white envelopes, many of them covered in fancy stickers or decorated generously with various jewels and ribbons. “King does a great job at promoting its trainees,” he explained as he carefully ripped open his first letter. “Especially the ones that are set to debut soon.”

“Guess it really does pay to be in a big company,” Seyoon muttered as he watched Donghun grab his pile. It was much smaller than Junhee’s, but he seemed happy nonetheless.

Yoochan pushed a piece of cereal from one side of his bowl to the other. “What’s it say?” He asked curiously. Junhee smiled fondly at the letter he held.

“Aw, it says that she loved the vlog I posted on the trainee website,” he said and clutched the letter to his chest. “That’s sweet.”

Donghun frowned at his letter. “Mine says she wants me to do more girl group dances.”

Byeongkwan beamed widely at that. “I’m always down to teach you,” he offered as Junhee laughed.

“You should take him up on that offer, Hun.” He carefully placed his letter off to the side and picked up the next envelope, a pink and white striped one with ‘Park Junhee’ written on the front in loopy letters. “He posted some great girl group covers on his YouTube channel.”

Byeongkwan flushed bright red. “Wh – that was _five_ years ago,” he spluttered. “How did you even find that?”

Junhee shrugged as he unfolded his letter. “I’m a big fan. Oh, this one is coming to NOVA’s concert and says she’s excited to see me!”

“I knew I should’ve made those videos private,” Byeongkwan huffed. “Eat your cereal already, Chan.”

Yoochan, who had been spooning up bits of cereal only to dump them back into his bowl, pouted. “But I like my corn flakes nice and soggy.” Byeongkwan stared at him.

“What is _wrong_ with you – ”

“Wait, shush.” Junhee held a hand up, looking down at his phone with his eyebrows furrowed. “Manager Kim is texting me. Be right back.” He slipped off his chair and hurried into the conjoined bathroom as Donghun watched on in worry.

“What could that be about,” he mumbled as he turned his attention back to his remaining letter. “Manager Kim never texts this late at night.”

They listened to Donghun as he read his last letter out loud, giggling a bit when a horrified expression took over his face as he read his fan’s request to do more aegyo, and then falling into full-blown laughter as Pickles leapt up from out of absolutely nowhere and snatched the letter out of his hand, which resulted in a vicious game of tug-of-war between boy and cat.

When Junhee finally emerged from the bathroom, Donghun had managed to get a firm grip around Pickles and was holding her as far away from the table as possible, his letter tucked safely underneath a bowl of fruit. “Oh, hey, Junhee,” he said, passing an irate Pickles off to Yoochan and brushing the cat hair off himself. “What did Manager Kim want?”

Junhee sighed heavily and tossed his phone on the table. “He said they’re adding another song to the set list and we have to learn it.”

“What?” Four voices echoed across the table, and Junhee unlocked his phone to show them the text.

“This is ridiculous,” Seyoon muttered, staring incredulously at the phone screen. “The tour begins next week. They can’t do this.”

Donghun ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, they can.” He picked the phone up from the table and scrolled through the text conversation. “It happened at the King Family tour four years ago. The dancers were _pissed._ ”

“Wait, so…” Yoochan put down his spoon. “Does that mean we have to learn an entire dance? By next week?”

Byeongkwan shook his head. “No, not by next week, by this Friday. Dress rehearsals are this weekend, remember?”

“And,” Junhee added, casting a hesitant look toward Byeongkwan and Seyoon. “Not only is it an extra song, but they’re adding an artistic dance intro to it. And they want Byeongkwan and Seyoon to do it.”

Seyoon blinked incredulously. “Okay, _him_ I get,” he said, pointing at Byeongkwan. “But why me?”

“You’re our two best dancers,” Junhee explained. “And Taemin and Hoya are doing it, so two and two balance out.” Seyoon let out a deep sigh and rested his forehead down on the table. Junhee looked at Byeongkwan sympathetically. “Nara will be in practice room two tomorrow at 9:30 to teach you two.”

Byeongkwan shot Junhee a tired smile. “It’s fine. We’ll be there. While I’m at it, I’ll ask her to teach me the rest of the new song too, so I’ll be able to help you guys learn it a bit faster.”

“Byeongkwan, you don’t have to – ”

He waved his hand around dismissively. “No, don’t worry about it. It’s my job, right?” He grinned, and after a few seconds of hesitation, Junhee’s face broke out into a grin too. From the side, Yoochan laughed and playfully bumped into Byeongkwan’s side with his shoulder.

“You’re the best, Kwannie!”

“Eat your cereal.”

\-------------

Donghun and Junhee sat huddled together on the cold pavement, Donghun’s arm wrapped securely around Junhee’s shoulders.

“Sorry,” the younger mumbled, voice muffled by the cotton fabric of Donghun’s sweater. Donghun tutted.

“What did I say about saying sorry?” He gently tapped the back of Junhee’s head. The door to the building swung open, and a tall trainee that Donghun knew by face but not by name stormed out, not sparing them a single glance as he quickly disappeared off into the distance. He felt Junhee tense beside him and rubbed his arm. “Why don’t we go inside? It’s our turn soon.” Junhee shook his head, and Donghun sighed. “Hey, I thought you said you practiced hard for this one.”

“Not hard enough,” came the muffled reply. Donghun rolled his eyes and pushed Junhee’s face out of his armpit.

“Park Junhee, get a grip.” Junhee stared at him with offense written all over his face, and Donghun snorted. “I’ve been listening to you for weeks now. You’re going to be just fine.”

“What if I mess up? What if I forget the words?”

“You say that every month.”

“Yeah, and every month I mean it.” Junhee frowned, and Donghun so badly wanted to erase those worry lines from the other boy’s face. Instead, he opted for slapping a hand to his forehead.

“What is this, are you sick? Do you have a fever?” He scoffed. “How can you even think that you’re going to do any less than amazing? I know you prefer dancing, but your singing’s still one of the top among all the trainees – ”

“Except for you,” Junhee cut in, smiling, and Donghun laughed and gently smacked his forehead.

“Shut up. I’m trying to give you a pep talk.”

“Oh – oh my!”

The two of them whipped their heads around at the sound of the voice. A young girl dressed in a high-school uniform stood in front of them, one hand holding her phone and the other hand covered over her mouth in shock. Neither Donghun nor Junhee had noticed her approach – they had been too preoccupied. The two trainees immediately pulled back from each other as if they had received an electric shock. Junhee cleared his throat and smiled.

“Hi, can we help you?”

The girl squealed and waved her phone around frantically. “Oh my god, Park Junhee! I’m your biggest fan! I didn’t think I’d actually see you, oh my god – ”

“Oh, a fan!” Junhee looked delighted.

“ – I love you too, Donghun,” the girl continued, and Donghun smiled gently as well and nodded at her as she felt around her backpack for a while and pulled out a notebook and pen. “Do you think you could give me autographs?” She asked, holding the pen out to them, and they exchanged a glance before Junhee shrugged.

“Yeah, sure. I don’t see why not.”

Junhee’s signature was cute and bold, just like he was, while Donghun’s was sophisticated and loopy in all the right places. The girl clutched her notebook to her chest in contentment, and the two trainees smiled fondly at her. It was always nice to run into some of their fans.

“But,” she began hesitantly. “Why are you guys sitting outside? And were you _hugging_? Oh my god.”

Donghun’s ears flushed bright pink and he opened his mouth to retort, but Junhee beat him to it. “Yup! Donghun’s my best bud,” he chirped without missing a beat. “We were just taking a break from practicing.” Donghun smiled and nodded, just like he always did.

_Smile and nod._

The girl had both her hands up to her mouth now, eyes swimming with glee. “No way. Just wait until I tell my friends that HunJun hang out like this.” She stuffed her notebook and pen back into her backpack and hastily waved goodbye before dashing off past a shrub of bushes, leaving a bewildered Donghun and Junhee in her wake.

_HunJun?_

“Did we just get a couple name?” Junhee asked, resting his head back onto Donghun’s shoulder. It bobbed up, then down as Donghun shrugged.

“I guess so.”

The two of them sat on the front step of the building a little longer watching a pair of birds chase each other back and forth across the bright midday sky. Junhee’s voice echoed in Donghun’s mind. _My best bud._ They were best buds, so why did those three words feel so unnatural? Donghun felt the weight lift from his shoulder as Junhee raised his head up.

“I think I’m ready to go in now,” he said, a strand of brown hair flying into his eyes when a particularly strong gust of wind blew their way, and without thinking Donghun reached out to brush it away. Junhee grinned and grabbed Donghun’s wrist, slinging the other’s arm around his neck and pulling the both of them up. “Let’s go.”

Donghun smiled and nodded.

\-------------

Seyoon wheezed, crouched over and hands on his knees to steady himself. Beside him, Byeongkwan lay on the ground in the fetal position, sweat dripping into his eyes and down his neck into his shirt. Nara loomed over the two with her arms crossed, unimpressed.

“Get up. We’ll run through it again.”

Seyoon straightened up, muttering curses under his breath that Nara could definitely hear but thankfully chose to ignore. They had been practicing their newly learned routine nonstop, and Byeongkwan hadn’t looked at the clock but he was sure that at least half the day had passed without a single break. That didn’t faze Nara a single bit, because as far as their choreographer was concerned, mistakes equal no breaks, and they kept making mistakes.

After what felt like many more hours, Nara finally deemed their dancing acceptable and left them to practice on their own for the rest of the day. Immediately after she closed the door behind her, Seyoon sank onto the ground, limbs extended and sprawled out like a starfish.

“I…quit…” He groaned, squeezing his eyes shut. “You guys…can do this…without me.”

Byeongkwan dropped down and took a seat beside him. He rested his elbows on his knees and his chin on his palms, trying in vain to control his breathing. Something nudged him in the side, and he looked up to see Seyoon holding a bottle of water out to him.

“You alright?”

Byeongkwan nodded. “Yeah. Exhausted. ‘M all right, though.” Seyoon nodded and returned to his spread-eagle position.

“Okay. Let’s just rest a bit. For, like, an hour or two.”

Byeongkwan snorted and got back up, wiping his forehead and heading over to stand in front of the air conditioner. “You do that,” he said, letting out a sigh as he felt the cool, refreshing air wash over his skin. “It’s not _my_ ass Nara’s going to kick when she finds out you’ve been slacking off.” Seyoon groaned and rolled over.

“The others are so lucky,” he said, face pressed against the ground. “They don’t have to go through this torture.”

Byeongkwan took a swig of his water and wiped away more sweat. “I know, right. Curse us and our unrivaled dance capabilities.”

Seyoon shifted his position so that he peered up at the other boy, who was still standing in front of the air conditioner. “Aren’t you tired?”

“Hm?”

“I mean,” Seyoon muttered, not looking directly at Byeongkwan’s face but casting his gaze more at his shoes. “You’re doing the dances with us, and you’re learning this dance break with me, and on top of that you’re staying later to learn the new choreo just so you can teach it to us. Not to mention the fact that you helped choreograph, like, half of the stuff we’re doing this whole tour. Aren’t you tired?”

Byeongkwan let out a small chuckle, scratching at his hair. It was completely soaked in sweat. “I’m…I’m not tired.” He smiled. “Not when I’m dancing. I’m never tired when I’m dancing.”

Seyoon just stared at him silently for a minute with an inquisitive look on his face. After a while, he sighed and rolled over onto his back. “Stop standing there. You’ll get sick.”

\-------------

It felt like they lived in the practice room. The comfortable couches and soft, cozy beds of the apartment were long-forgotten, traded in for the hard, slick floors and glaring lights of the King Entertainment building. When everyone else had gone home, there remained the five members of NOVA and their five backup dancers, working tirelessly and relentlessly. Sometimes, not all of them performed in a routine, and the lucky ones who could catch a break did, sipping water and massaging aching muscles off to the sides of the room. Sometimes, all ten of them performed together, and there would be no other sound except for the blaring drone of music and the heavy thump of footsteps.

Byeongkwan had not been able to catch a break for the last few hours, nor did he want to. He ignored the burning sensation in his legs and the pounding in his head, repeating to himself instead, _Concert next week. Concert next week._

“All right,” Suho panted as Yoochan scampered over to the sound system and stopped the music. “I think we can end here for today.”

The moment Byeongkwan stopped moving, the burning in his legs intensified ten-fold and he stumbled for a second before regaining composure. No one noticed.

“Hey, good job today,” Suho grinned at the dancers, who smiled tiredly back. “I think we really nailed it this time. We’re going to be well-prepared for the dress rehearsal this weekend.”

Junhee and Donghun sidled up next to Byeongkwan, who had resumed his usual position in front of the air conditioner. “Thanks for teaching us the dance, Byeongkwan,” Junhee said earnestly while Donghun smiled beside him. “There’s no way we would have been ready for it today if it weren’t for you.”

“Thanks for agreeing to come early,” Byeongkwan replied breathlessly. Donghun nodded.

“Of course. Are you headed back now?”

Byeongkwan glanced over his shoulder at Seyoon, who was sitting in one of the chairs and fanning himself with his hand. He shook his head. “Actually, Seyoon and I have to stay back again.”

Junhee frowned. “Again?”

“There’s this one bit in the choreo that we just cannot get, no matter how hard we try. We’re going to practice until we get it.”

“All right, if you say so.” The other two left, but not without giving him encouraging pats on the back and wishing him good luck. He watched as they tugged Yoochan away from where he was chattering to Taemin and waved as they went out the door.

Slowly, the room emptied out, and eventually it was just Seyoon and him again, as it had been every day that week. Byeongkwan took a deep breath and clapped his hands together.

“Okay. Let’s get started.”

Seyoon got off his chair with a grunt and pressed play on the sound system.

Byeongkwan glanced at the clock a few dozen repeats later and was surprised to see that the hour hand had almost reached one. He waved a hand around.

“Okay, okay, break.” When the music ended, he immediately bent over, coughing. He heard Seyoon’s footsteps slowly approach him.

“You okay?”

He shook his head. “Fine.” _Cough, cough._ “Fine. Don’t worry.”

Seyoon handed him a bottle of water, concern written all over his features. “Maybe you should sit down. You don’t look too good.”

Byeongkwan shook his head again, and the room spun a little before him. “No, I’m okay. Let’s do it one more time.”

“Byeongkwan…”

Byeongkwan shot Seyoon a look. “I’m fine, I swear, Seyoon.” Seyoon finally conceded, pursing his lips but not talking back as he pressed the play button on the music again. Byeongkwan took a deep breath as he stared at himself in the mirror, his reflection a little fuzzy and unclear. He rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times, willing his eyesight to improve. If anything, that only made it worse.

From the corner of his eye he saw Seyoon beginning the first few movements of the piece, and he tried to mimic him, but his limbs felt heavy and sluggish and didn’t seem to cooperate with him.

As the music increased in tempo, he felt his heartbeat increase also, and the heavy electronic melody was soon replaced with an infuriating, high-pitched ringing tone. He turned to Seyoon, about to ask what it was, but the sudden movement of his head caused the entire practice room to go into a swirl and he felt the ground shift violently from beneath his feet. The last thing he saw before the room faded away to black was Seyoon’s panicked face crouched over him, eyes wide and yelling.

“Byeongkwan? _Byeongkwan!_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys!!! new chapter is up!!!! i hope you like it :)  
> I have officially arrived in France for my study abroad program, so I don't know how that'll affect my uploading schedule (especially with school coming up soon), but I will try my best to keep it regular like it has so far!  
> as always, hmu @kim-seyooned on tumblr <3


	11. Accidental Discoveries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byeongkwan wakes up in the hospital. He finds out something that he wasn't supposed to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you @northisland-southernpeninsula! You're the best <3

The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was an unbearable, glaring bright ball of light obstructing his vision. He blinked a few times, willing it to go away, before turning his head to the side and squinting at his surroundings. He was in a bed. He wiggled his toes, then his legs, and then his arms to make sure they were all still there.

He turned his head to the other side and nearly let out a yelp when he came face to face with a snoring Seyoon, head in his arms and leaning against the bed. Byeongkwan blinked and moved closer, until he was close enough to see the other boy’s dark, long eyelashes and the light freckles dusting the side of his face. He looked so peaceful when he was asleep.

As if on cue, Seyoon’s eyes shot open, and Byeongkwan let out the strangest gasp-sputter combination as he flinched away. The sudden movement caused his head to erupt into painful throbbing, and he groaned and squeezed his eyes shut.

Seyoon had stood up in shock. “Byeongkwan! You’re awake!” He looked left and right, as if searching for what to do next. Byeongkwan moaned from under the covers.

“What happened?” His throat was hoarse, and he had to clear it a few times before he managed to ask the question. Seyoon sat back down again in his chair beside the bed.

“You passed out suddenly, so I brought you here. It’s the nearest hospital I know.” He gave Byeongkwan an unreadable look. “Are you feeling better now?”

“I think so – ”

“Good, because I am going to _fucking kill you,_ ” he growled. “Do you know how worried I was? One minute, you’re completely fine, and then suddenly you’re coughing your lungs out and before I know it you look dead on the floor. God, I told you so many times to take a break, why couldn’t you just listen to me? Idiot.” He looked away, eyes swimming in fury. Byeongkwan stayed quiet for a while, letting his words sink in. A small smile slowly crept onto his face.

“…You were worried about me?”

Seyoon rolled his eyes. “Oh, my god, _that’s_ what you say in return? Not even a, gee, thanks Seyoon for carrying me to the hospital at fucking 1 AM? Forget I said anything.”

“Wait, no.” Byeongkwan reached out and gripped weakly onto Seyoon’s wrist. The IV drip dangled from the bandages on the back of his hand. “Thanks. Really.”

Seyoon glanced awkwardly at his hand. “Don’t worry about it,” he muttered. He cleared his throat and pulled his wrist out of Byeongkwan’s grasp. “You should get some rest. I’ll tell the nurses you’re up.”

Byeongkwan nodded and settled back into the pillows with a sigh, eyes fluttering closed. He was exhausted, and before he knew it he had fallen back asleep.

\-------------

“Where is he? Let me in!”

“Shh!”

Byeongkwan cracked an eye open as the door to his hospital room burst open and Yoochan, Junhee, and Donghun squeezed through as one single unit while Seyoon watched tiredly behind them. Yoochan immediately hurried over to his bedside.

“Oh, Kwannie, I’m so glad you’re awake!”

Byeongkwan offered the younger boy a weak smile. “Sorry to have worried you.”

From beside Yoochan, Junhee placed a hand on Byeongkwan’s forehead. “Oh, thank god,” he muttered when he felt it was a normal temperature. “We just found out this morning and rushed straight here.” He stepped back, crossing his arms. “Seriously, Byeongkwan, what were you thinking? Pushing yourself like that? The tour is important, but your health _always_ comes first.”

Byeongkwan gave a small shrug in reply, and Junhee sighed in exasperation. “Well,” he said, smoothing out Byeongkwan’s blanket a little. “I’m just glad you’re all right.”

“The nurse said you’re free to leave later today,” said Donghun. “We have to get back to practice soon, but we’ll try to make it here afterward to pick you up. What did Manager Kim say? Was he understanding?”

“I…I haven’t heard from him.” Byeongkwan furrowed his eyebrows. He hadn’t heard anything from their manager or any of the other King staff members. He swallowed hard in terror as he thought about what Manager Kim would think of this situation. Would he still be allowed to practice? Would he be allowed to attend the concert at all? He wouldn’t know what to do if that were the case.

Junhee narrowed his eyes. “You haven’t? Seyoon, you _did_ tell Manager Kim, didn’t you?” From beside the doorway, Seyoon cleared his throat and looked away.

“No, I didn’t.”

 _”What?”_ Junhee slowly rose from where he sat.

“I didn’t tell Manager Kim.” Seyoon stared resolutely at the floor. “Just you guys.”

“Are you _insane_?” Junhee roared, and everyone flinched. “Byeongkwan passed out, and it didn’t even cross your mind to tell our manager about it? I can’t tell if you’re stupid or just a bad person – ”

“Of _course_ it crossed my mind,” Seyoon shot back. “And Manager Kim was the first person I wanted to call. But you have to remember, Byeongkwan is a dancer.” He waved at the tired boy on the bed, who was watching the whole exchange in silence. “And as a dancer myself, I thought about it, and I realized that the last thing I would want to happen if it were me was for the manager to know.”

Junhee sent him an incredulous look, and so Seyoon elaborated further.

“If Manager Kim knew, there’d be a chance he’d be prohibited from practicing, or even worse, from dancing the concert. That’d be months of hard work, months of slaving over dance moves and sacrificing sleep for practice wasted. In short, it’d be the worst possible thing that could ever happen to a dancer. And so,” he took a deep breath. “I didn’t tell Manager Kim. But I will, after Byeongkwan fully recovers.”

Junhee seemed to think it over for a bit, but his thoughtful expression was soon replaced with raging anger.

“Seyoon, I know you think you’re being helpful, but that is the most irresponsible thing that you could have done. This is Byeongkwan’s health that we’re talking about here. Not some dance moves, not some overpriced concert, but the actual _body_ and _well-being_ of a person. And you!” He snapped his gaze toward Byeongkwan, and the other boy sank deeper into his covers in fear. “Why did you push yourself like that? Do you realize what could have happened to you? Do you realize what you put your body through?”

Donghun placed a hand on Junhee’s arm. “Junhee.” The fuming boy took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry. I’m just worried.”

“We all are,” said Donghun. “But I think Byeongkwan has learned his lesson.” The older boy turned to Byeongkwan, who was still tucked deep beneath his covers, and offered him a smile. “Next time, don’t push yourself so hard, okay? Remember, we’re all a team, so we should all work together equally.” Byeongkwan nodded.

“Yeah. ‘Course.”

“Good.” Donghun beamed, and Junhee gave a relieved smile as well as he patted Byeongkwan on the shoulder.

Yoochan stepped forward, retrieving something from his backpack. “Hey, Kwan, I got you this,” he said, placing a chocolate bar on the side table. Byeongkwan reached over and picked it up, turning it around in his hands. It was a kind of expensive-looking, European chocolate. Yoochan grinned.

“Whenever I’m feeling down, chocolate always does the trick, so I thought I’d give you some too.”

“Thanks, Chan,” Byeongkwan said gratefully.

“No problem.”

Junhee wrapped an arm around Yoochan. “It’s time to go to practice,” he said, tugging Donghun along behind them. “We’ll see you later, Byeongkwan! Call us if you need anything, okay?”

Byeongkwan nodded, and the other four waved their goodbyes as they headed out the door. Seyoon gave him one last glance before he left, but Byeongkwan had already faced himself the other way and closed his eyes.

\-------------

The nurse clipped her papers back into her clipboard and put her pen back into her chest pocket, smiling at Byeongkwan.

“You’re welcome to leave anytime you’d like, Mr. Kim,” she said, and Byeongkwan gave her a grateful nod as she left the room. He stuffed the prescriptions that he had received into his pocket, having finally changed out of the flimsy hospital gown and back into his regular clothes. He checked his watch. It was just past 8:00 PM, which meant the others should be finishing up right about now. He dragged himself out of bed, feeling much more awake and refreshed than he ever had the past few weeks. It was amazing what a good rest could do.

Byeongkwan shuffled over to pick up his belongings in the corner of his room. It would probably be a little longer until the others arrived at the hospital to pick him up, and he definitely didn’t feel up to tackling public transit on his own at the moment, so he decided to pay a visit to the hospital pharmacy and then lounge about in the waiting area.

As he walked through the shiny, perfectly white halls of the hospital, following the lit up signs pointing in the direction of the pharmacy, he wondered how practice went that day. If he was lucky, neither Nara or Manager Kim would have paid a visit to check up on them, and he would be able to slip back into routine tomorrow without any questions asked. He hoped that was what would happen.

He pulled the prescription out of his pocket. Apparently, he had developed a fever (probably from standing in front of the air conditioning) which had contributed to his increasing fatigue, but the main thing the doctor had prescribed to him was lots and lots of sleep. There were a couple of fever medications written on the paper, however, that Byeongkwan had to pick up before he could leave. He squinted as he struggled to make out exactly what the doctor had scribbled down. How did anybody ever manage to decode doctor handwriting?

As he stuffed the illegible prescription back into his pants pocket, his eyes caught a glimpse of a familiar mop of black hair inside the small window on the wooden door he was passing by. He looked around the hallway. Somehow, he had wandered into a completely unfamiliar part of the hospital, and somehow, Seyoon was here, too. His gaze finally settled on a large sign with big, black letters hung up on the wall a few doors down, and he took a deep breath as he read what it said. He looked back through the small window into the room. Seyoon was sitting by the bed, back facing the door. Byeongkwan couldn’t make out what he was doing or who else was in the room with him, and he loitered for a few seconds, looking back and forth between the door and the hall, until curiosity got the best of him and he found himself quietly knocking on the door.

Through the window, he saw Seyoon’s head shoot up and around, eyes widening when he caught a glimpse of Byeongkwan through the window. Byeongkwan watched as Seyoon went through a split second of confusion, followed by panic, then followed by his usual stony expression as he got up to open the door.

“Hey,” said Byeongkwan.

“Hey.” Seyoon didn’t move.

Byeongkwan sniffed awkwardly. “I, uh, got let out. I’m free.” He gave a small chuckle. Seyoon nodded, mouth still a thin line but eyes warm and relieved.

“That’s good to hear.”

Byeongkwan waited for Seyoon to say something else, for him to explain what he was doing in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital, but the other boy gave no sign of saying anything else, so he swallowed hard and spat his question out.

“What were you doing in there?”

Seyoon seemed conflicted, eyes darting around nervously and opening and closing his mouth a couple of times, as if he couldn’t decide on what to say. In the end, he settled on a sigh and stepped aside from the doorway.

“Why don’t you just come in and see?”

Byeongkwan stared at him, but Seyoon carefully avoided his gaze, and in the end Byeongkwan hesitantly stepped past the wooden doorframe. The entire room smelled strongly of a hospital, of chemicals and iodoform disinfectants. The very first thing Byeongkwan’s eyes zeroed in on was the unmoving white lump on the bed. He slowly walked closer to it, noticing as he did that there were multiple wires connected from the lump to various beeping machines. One of them measured a heart rate, steady and even. He heard Seyoon approach him from behind.

“Byeongkwan…” Seyoon took a deep breath, and Byeongkwan followed suit, sensing that he was about to learn something about Seyoon that would change his entire perception of him. Seyoon opened his mouth again, this time more resolute.

“Byeongkwan, meet my mother.”

\-------------

Junhee watched in confusion as Yoochan pulled out a giant stack of papers from his gym bag and a roll of scotch tape. “What are you doing, Chan?” He asked.

Yoochan bit off a generous piece of tape with his teeth and stuck one of the papers onto the telephone pole they were walking by. On it was a large picture of Pickles, caught in the middle of knocking a cactus pot off Yoochan’s desk, with the words “LOST CAT” printed on the top. “Pickles disappeared,” he frowned. “She must have slipped out somehow when the door was opened.”

“Oh,” Donghun sighed. “Now that I think about it, it has been a while since I’ve seen that cat. When did this happen?”

“A few days ago.” Yoochan stuck another poster on the back of a bus stop. “I really hope she’s okay.”

“Hey Yoochan, no offense but, what made you choose Pickles?” Donghun took the posters from Yoochan’s grip as the younger boy struggled to rip the tape. “She’s not exactly the cutest cat.”

Yoochan sighed. “I don’t know.” He shrugged and moved to tape another poster onto the nearest telephone pole. “There were so many different kitties at the adoption centre, and I went that day thinking I was going to get a cute little tabby cat with black stripes. But then when I went to the room to pick, all the kittens ran up to me except for Pickles, who hung around by herself on the other side.” Yoochan taped another poster on the side of a mailbox. “The lady working there told me that Pickles had been there longer than the other cats, and that nobody wanted to adopt her, and when I saw the sad look in her little eyes I knew I had to get her.” He smiled at the picture of the cat on the poster.

Junhee grabbed half of Donghun’s pile. “Well then, in that case we’ll help you in any way we can! Pass me some of that tape.”

Yoochan grinned gratefully and ripped a piece off for Junhee. “Thanks, guys.” They got to work sticking up posters, laughing and chatting as they slowly worked their way down the street toward the hospital.

\-------------

Seyoon took a seat back in his armchair while Byeongkwan pulled up a stool to sit next to him. He looked more exhausted than Byeongkwan had ever seen him.

“Stroke.”

“Sorry?”

“Stroke,” Seyoon repeated, gesturing vaguely at the woman lying on the bed. Byeongkwan let out a small breath of air.

“Oh.”

Seyoon nodded. “Yeah.”

Byeongkwan twiddled his thumbs together. “Uh, how long…”

“…has she been sleeping?” Seyoon grabbed onto one of his mother’s hands, sighing. “It’s been two months now.”

Byeongkwan nodded dumbly, unsure of what to say as he watched the other boy’s eyes reflect a sort of longing that he had never seen before. He looked at the still woman on the hospital bed. She had a head of long, black hair, parted neatly and draped across her shoulders. She wore a hospital gown, which swallowed her up and made her already small frame seem even smaller. Weak and sickly, Byeongkwan found himself thinking that it looked like even one gust of wind would break her. Seyoon’s large hand completely covered her smaller one, and if Byeongkwan had not stared a little longer than necessary in an attempt to gather his thoughts, he would not have noticed the subtle shivering of Seyoon’s hand as the older rubbed a thumb against his mother’s palm.

“Stroke comas,” Seyoon began, and Byeongkwan was surprised to notice a small tremble in his voice, “are hard to recover from. Especially when it’s been this long.” He swallowed hard. “But I’m a stubborn piece of shit. I got that from her.” He rubbed his mother’s shoulder and laughed dryly. “At least it hasn’t gotten any worse.”

Byeongkwan thought back to two months ago, and to how Seyoon would quietly slip away unnoticed sometimes, only to return late into the night and leave early the next morning. He thought about the bags under Seyoon’s eyes, and the way the boy would walk around like a zombie whenever he wasn’t in the practice room. He thought about how he had caught him crying to Dumbo that one day, and how he had been confused but amused at the time, not understanding how someone as old as he was could still cry at a classic Disney movie.

“This is where you go after practice every day,” said Byeongkwan. It wasn’t a question, but Seyoon answered anyway.

“Yeah. Most of the time.”

“Shit.” Not knowing what to say, Byeongkwan settled for staring blankly at Seyoon’s and Mrs. Kim’s intertwined hands again. Seyoon nodded in agreement.

“Yeah. Shit.”

\-------------

Junhee looked around the hospital room in confusion. “He’s not here. Why isn’t he here?”

“Maybe he’s down in the lobby,” Yoochan suggested, but Junhee shook his head.

“We just came from the lobby.”

“Oh. Well, maybe we just missed each other on the elevator. Should we go down and check again?”

Donghun snorted. “You just want to go back because they were serving tea and biscuits to the people waiting.”

“Maybe.”

Junhee rolled his eyes and pulled the other two out of the room. “C’mon. Let’s ask the front desk.”

\-------------

“We were nine and ten,” Seyoon smiled. “The roses in the backyard were in full bloom. My brother, being the idiot that he is, thought they were pretty and decided to dive head-first into one of the bushes. Mom and I spent hours pulling all the thorns out of him.”

Byeongkwan grinned, imagining an annoyed ten-year-old Seyoon pulling thorn after thorn out of his younger brother, probably grumbling loudly at him the entire time. It was an adorable image.

“And she used to bake,” Seyoon continued. “Cakes, pies, cookies, all sorts of things. All the other kids at school would be so jealous because I’d have a sweet packed as a snack every day.”

“I never pegged you for a sweet tooth,” Byeongkwan said. Seyoon chuckled.

“I’m not. I usually gave the cakes away. But she loved to bake, said it helped take her mind off things.”

“What sorts of things?” Byeongkwan wasn’t sure if he was crossing some sort of invisible line by asking such personal questions, but Seyoon at the moment seemed so caught up in his own thoughts that he had a small smile on his face, and Byeongkwan didn’t want to see it go away.

Seyoon shrugged. “She never elaborated, but I’m going to guess that it had something to do with my father.” He took a large sip from his bottle of water. “He left when I was seven. Don’t know much about the guy, but I could tell he made my Mom upset, and so I hated him.” He pressed his lips in a thin line, and Byeongkwan frowned. “And now Mom’s like this, and he still won’t even show his face. Only bothers to send a couple thousand a week in cheques to cover hospital fees. Asshole. At least he remembers we still exist.”

Byeongkwan reached out a hesitant hand and placed it on Seyoon’s shoulder. He tried not to think about the fact that this was the first time they had touched each other, and he hoped with all his might that Seyoon could not feel how tense his grip was. “It’s okay,” he said reassuringly. “Remember what Donghun said earlier? We’re all a team. You can tell us, and especially me, anything.”

Seyoon shook his head. “I’d rather keep this to myself for now. I don’t want the others worrying about me. I’m fine, I’m working a couple random jobs to make some money, and I’ve got a little routine set up so that I’ll be able to visit her every day.” He shot Byeongkwan a look. “So, don’t tell anyone, okay?”

Byeongkwan pretended to cross his heart. “Okay.”

Seyoon turned his gaze back to his mother, just as stone-faced and daunting as her son, but when Byeongkwan looked closely he could feel a warmness exude from her presence, and he wondered how just how bright she would be if she woke up.

“We should probably get down to the lobby,” Seyoon said, getting up and brushing his pants off. “The other should be here by now.”

Byeongkwan copied him, pushing the stool over back to the corner of the room that it used to occupy. As he watched Seyoon tuck his mother into her white hospital blankets, he felt a sadness for the boy’s family, and hidden within that was a tenderness that he immediately pushed away and refused to acknowledge. For now, this was enough.

\-------------

“There you are!” Junhee cried, leaping out of his seat and running over to give Byeongkwan and big hug as he and Seyoon stepped out of the elevator. “We couldn’t find you. Weren’t you in your room? How are you feeling now?”

Off to the side, Yoochan sneakily opened his backpack and proudly displayed to Seyoon all the digestive cookies he had managed to snag from the food trolleys.

“Sorry,” Byeongkwan apologized, hugging first Junhee, and then Donghun. “I’m feeling completely healthy. And as for my room, I ran into Seyoon on the way, and we just got caught up talking.”

Donghun snorted. “Seyoon? Talking? What kind of voodoo magic are you using?”

From the corner of his eye, Byeongkwan spotted Seyoon nodding politely with ill-concealed exasperation as Yoochan held out a cookie and chattered at him. He smiled.

“Trust. I used trust.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, new chapter is finally up!! Hope you guys like it :) (What kind of slice of life drama would this be if it didn't have a hospital scene, amirite?)  
> hmu on @kim-seyooned on tumblr!! i like to chat chat chat chat


	12. Tour Galaxie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The tour finally begins, starting with the Seoul shows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you @northisland-southernpeninsula <3

“Backup dancers on stage in five! Positions, please.”

“That’s you,” said Manager Kim, pushing a stumbling Junhee toward the door as the other four followed behind him. “Good luck. I’ll be monitoring.”

The five boys muttered their thanks and scurried out the door of their dressing room into the wings of the stage. Junhee turned back hastily to face the rest of his team as they waited.

“Okay. This is it. We’ve worked our asses off the last four months for this, and now that it’s finally here, I just wanted to let you guys know that I love and appreciate each and every one of you, and that I’m so proud that – ”

“Shut up, Junhee, it’s just the dress rehearsal.” Donghun rolled his eyes. “Save the speech for the real thing.”

“Whatever you say, Hun.” Junhee grinned and spun back around just in time for the next song to begin, and upon the first note the five of them ran out and joined NOVA onstage, grinning and jumping around wildly in front of the empty arena.

\-------------

“Hey, that wasn’t too bad!” Yoochan beamed and sloppily wiped the hair back from his face. Behind him, Junhee accepted a pile of towels from a staff member and began handing them out. Donghun took one gratefully.

“Thanks.” He patted at the sweat building up on his forehead.

Junhee kept one towel for himself and wrapped it around his neck. He was smiling brighter than ever. “That wasn’t bad at all,” he agreed. “For a dress rehearsal, anyway. Good job, guys.”

“Did you see Manager Kim dancing along?” Byeongkwan laughed.

Seyoon rolled his eyes. “There’s no way Manager Kim was dancing. You’re seeing things.”

“No, I swear – ”

Donghun cut them both off before they could start arguing again. “Don’t celebrate too early,” he said. “We still have half of the rehearsal left to go.”

“Aw, c’mon, Hun,” Junhee sighed. “Stop being such a downer. You have to admit we did great.”

A smile slowly crept across Donghun’s face as he nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. That was actually really good, you guys.”

Yoochan squealed and launched forward, enveloping the nearest people into a big hug. Donghun and Seyoon exclaimed in surprise as they found themselves trapped in the younger boy’s arms. Unsurprisingly, Junhee immediately joined in, followed not long after by Byeongkwan.

“Group hug!” Yoochan cried as Seyoon tried unsuccessfully to wiggle his way out. “Here’s to a really good rehearsal so far!”

“Let me go – ”

“And an even better rehearsal in the second half,” Byeongkwan chimed in, laughing.

“Can’t… breathe…”

“And an _even better_ concert!” Junhee finished off, followed by cheering and hollering, and a loud, guttural grunt as Seyoon finally managed to wrench Yoochan’s death grip off of his shoulder and shimmy his way out of the group hug. He stood there, panting, and the other four stared at him apprehensively before he, too, cracked a smile.

“And here’s to the best tour ever.”

The others whooped and Seyoon grinned proudly before immediately protesting when Byeongkwan reached out and pulled him back into the group hug.

\-------------

Yoochan waded around his room, carefully stepping in between piles of clothing and over trash bags strewn haphazardly on the floor. Donghun followed him, muttering to himself as he bent over and tossed an empty pop can into the large trash bag clutched in his hand. Yoochan shifted a tower of dirty laundry from his bed to his chair and sprawled out on his mattress, letting out a deep breath. Donghun set the trash bag on the ground and plopped down next to him.

“I will never understand how you manage to turn your room into such a big garbage dump,” he said, laying down to rest next to Yoochan.

“Thanks for offering to clean it with me!”

“I couldn’t stand looking at it anymore. Hey, how’s the Pickles search going?”

“Not good,” Yoochan sighed. “I’ve only gotten one call, but it wasn’t Pickles. It was some stray cat.”

Donghun frowned and patted the other boy on the shoulder. “Don’t worry,” he said reassuringly. “I’m sure you’ll find her again soon.”

“Yeah,” Yoochan replied brightly. “I’m sure I will. Mom said she’ll help me look while I’m away on tour.”

“Tour,” Donghun breathed, also lying back onto the bed with a wistful expression. “Can’t believe it’s starting tomorrow.”

“Yeah. Crazy.”

Donghun shifted onto his side and glanced at Yoochan. “You nervous?” Yoochan rolled over and propped his chin on the balls of his fists.

“Are you kidding? I can’t wait!” He grinned widely, pearly white teeth on full display. “This is the moment I’ve been waiting for since I got here! Why, are you nervous?”

“A little,” Donghun confessed. “It’s a _huge_ concert. Tickets sold out in like, thirty-five seconds.”

“But you have to admit,” said Yoochan, holding a hand up and pointing at Donghun, “you’re a _little_ excited.”

Donghun smiled and flicked Yoochan’s forehead, who protested loudly and curled up against the wall. “Okay, I’m a _little_ excited.”

“Hey, what’s this?” Both of them glanced up to Junhee poking his head through the doorframe. “Are you guys having a party in here without me?”

Yoochan scooted over on the bed to make a space while Donghun gently patted the mattress, and Junhee grinned and hopped on, knocking over the pile of laundry on the floor as he did so. Yoochan groaned.

“Great, now I have to pick those up.”

“Oh, please,” Junhee rolled his eyes. “Your room is a warzone. There is nothing I can do that would make it messier than it currently is.”

“He has a point,” said Donghun, and Yoochan huffed and rolled over.

Junhee reached over the side of the bed and picked up a crumpled piece of paper from the ground. He unfolded it to reveal a large poster for what seemed to be a horror film, wrinkled and creased but still glossy. “Hey, Chan, what’s this? I’ve never heard of a movie called, uh, _The Cursed Hat_. Wait, is that you?”

“Give me that!” Yoochan snatched the poster out of Junhee’s hands and smoothed it out. “It’s _The Curse of the Hat._ And yes, that is me. It was for a project I did last term.”

“A project?” Donghun peered at the movie poster over the boy’s shoulder. “Oh yeah, because you’re studying acting, right? Did you make your own movie?”

Yoochan shook his head. “Not really, I just starred in this short horror film that my friend was directing. It’s about a, uh, hat that’s…cursed.”

Junhee snickered. “Sounds intriguing. You still have a copy of it somewhere that we can watch?”

“Heck no! I deleted that thing the minute we handed it in!” They all burst into laughter as Yoochan crumpled up the poster once again and threw it carelessly onto the floor. Junhee wiped at his eyes.

“Ah, what a shame. I would have loved to watch that.”

At that moment, Seyoon’s head appeared in the doorway. “Hey, Yoochan, Byeongkwan told me to get you. Something about broccoli, strawberries, and the blender?”

Yoochan shot up from bed with a gasp. “Oh yeah, my broccoli berry smoothie!” He darted into the hallway and out of sight, leaving behind a disgusted-looking Seyoon in his wake.

“Did he say _broccoli berry_?” He asked the other two on the bed, then shook his head and wandered off in the direction of the kitchen, muttering to himself.

\-------------

“Hey, what are you going to do with all your cacti?” Donghun asked curiously as he helped Junhee gather all the plants that were still scattered around the living room. Junhee grunted as he reached for one all the way on the very top of the television case.

“Well, about half of them have died – ”

“Only you could find a way to kill off ten cacti in two months.”

“ – But the rest of them I’m giving to my mom to take care of while we’re gone.” Junhee shot Donghun a look as he placed the pot down on the table. “Look, I didn’t realize that you weren’t supposed to water them every other day, okay? I’ve learned my lesson now.”

Donghun held up his hands in surrender. “Sure, if you say so.” A soft laugh from the other side of the room drew their attention. Byeongkwan and Seyoon were sat facing each other on the crouch, cross-legged and whispering quietly to one another. Seyoon raised an amused eyebrow as Byeongkwan burst out laughing again and smacked the older boy on the arm.

“Have you noticed lately that those two seem – ”

“ – Different?” Donghun finished. “Yeah, I have.”

“They’re a lot closer than they were a couple weeks ago,” said Junhee. “Seyoon doesn’t look like he wants to strangle Byeongkwan anymore, not even when he sings in the shower.”

“Even _I_ want to strangle him sometimes when he does that.”

Seyoon’s eyes crinkled into half-moon crescents as Byeongkwan playfully closed his hands around his neck and shook him back and forth. He didn’t protest when Byeongkwan kept one of his hands wrapped around his side, but he did give a particularly hard shrug when the other tried to rest his chin on his right shoulder. Junhee shook his head and turned back toward his collection of cacti on the table. “Weird.”

\-------------

Manager Kim clapped his hands together, and Yoochan, who had been unknowingly dozing off as the hair stylist worked her magic on his limp hair, hissed as he jerked awake and accidentally burnt himself on the curling iron. Off to the side, Byeongkwan snickered at him from where he sat in front of rows upon rows of makeup.

“This is it,” Manager Kim announced, eyes wide and anxious and lacking their usual stern glint. “How are you five feeling?”

“Feeling great!” Junhee yelled from his spot on the couch, with Seyoon nodding beside him. Donghun held up his coffee cup in agreement, and Yoochan whooped excitedly, the sting of the curling iron already forgotten. Byeongkwan tried to join in, but the makeup artist tutted and slapped his arm when he moved.

“Stay still.”

“That’s good to hear.” Manager Kim pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed at his forehead nervously. “This is what the past few months have all been building up to. I want you to go out there today, remembering all the hard work you have put into this concert, and I want you to give it your absolute best. Remember, you were all hand-picked to be our dancers, and we have great faith that the five of you will, as the kids say these days, kill it.” He made an unidentifiable hand movement that must have been an attempt to look cool, but only ended up looking jerky.

“Thanks, Manager Kim,” Junhee beamed. “I’m sure we’ll kill it, too.”

Manager Kim nodded awkwardly, having clearly met his compliments quota for the day, and hurried out of the room still dabbing at his forehead with the handkerchief.

“Well, that was nice of him,” Donghun commented, and Byeongkwan nodded without thinking. The makeup artist hissed, her red lips pursed together in annoyance.

They could hear the sound checks being performed, the loud voices in the microphones and the droning instrumental tracks booming through the speakers in the arena and reverberating all the way into their waiting room. As the echoing of another back track started playing, Seyoon got up from his seat on the couch and wandered over to the other corner, body subtly mimicking the movements of the dance as he practiced.

“You guys,” Junhee exclaimed. “They’re going to start opening the doors soon. Does anyone want to try sneaking to the curtains with me to see how many people there are?”

“Do you really need to?” Donghun asked, taking another sip of his coffee. “It’s a NOVA concert. Remember how many seats are in the arena? That’s how many people are going to be out there. It’s a sold-out show.”

Junhee scoffed. “Okay, stick in the mud. Anyone _fun_ want to go take a peek with me?”

“I’ll do it!” Yoochan offered, raising a hand, and Junhee smiled proudly at him.

Suddenly, the door burst open and in walked Seokjin, dressed head-to-toe in his first costume of the night, a dazzling prince-like suit with tassels on the shoulders. He had on a full face of makeup, and his hair was styled up and swept to the side. He sported a bright grin on his handsome face.

“Junjun! Friends!”

“Hey, Seokjin,” the five of them greeted as the idol set the plastic bag he was holding on the counter. Junhee stood to give his cousin a brief hug.

“What’s up, Jinjin? Why aren’t you out there with the others?”

“We’re done with sound checks. They’re letting people in now, so we’ve got about an hour before the show starts. The others are having a group meeting in a bit, I just wanted to come check up on you guys really quick. Look, I brought you snacks.” Seokjin opened the plastic bag and pulled out five bags of chips and an assortment of different breads. Immediately, all five boys were gathered around the counter (much to the annoyance of the makeup artist and the hair stylist) sorting the snacks amongst themselves, chattering happily.

“Thanks so much, Jinjin,” Junhee beamed, and the other four paused in their excitement to thank him gratefully as well. Seokjin nodded brightly.

“Of course. Anything for our wonderful dancers.”

“You want some?” Junhee asked, holding out his bag of chips that he had opened already, but Seokjin just sighed and stared longingly at it as he shook his head.

“No, the company’s got us all on a diet again.” He perked up. “It’s okay, though, we packed meals for ourselves today. Speaking of, I should probably get back to the guys now.” He began heading towards the door, spinning back around as he reached out for the handle. “Oh yeah, almost forgot! The others told me to wish you guys good luck. We’re going to do great.”

Seokjin held up a fist in determination, and Junhee did the same, nodding. “Good luck!”

With a quick wave, Seokjin was out the door. The five boys glanced at each other and exchanged eager smiles, and the makeup artist marched over and dragged Byeongkwan back into his seat at the makeup counter.

“Mr. Kim, if you move one more time, I will personally glue you to this chair, do you understand me? Thank you. Stop eating those chips and just _stay still_. God, I’m not paid enough.”

\-------------

“Oh, my god,” Junhee whispered as he peered through a tiny slit in the curtains. Byeongkwan and Yoochan pushed and shoved at each other as they fought over who got to peek next. Yoochan eventually won, and as Junhee stepped away from the curtain the boy eagerly took his spot. He gasped out loud when he stared past it.

“What is it?” Byeongkwan whined, pushing again. “I want to see, too.”

“There’s so many people, Kwannie, seriously,” Yoochan gaped. “I’ve never seen this many people before.”

“And it’s not even full yet,” Junhee added. “More people are still coming in.”

“Let me see!” Yoochan finally relented, and Byeongkwan impatiently took his turn to catch a peek of the audience. “Oh, my god.”

“I know, right?”

“What are you guys doing?”

The three of them turned around to find Donghun and Seyoon approaching, both finally finished with hair and makeup. Donghun crossed his arms. “You know we’re not supposed to be out here, right?”

“Oh, shut up, Hun, come look at this.” Junhee reached a hand out and grabbed Donghun’s arm, dragging him over to the slit in the curtain. Donghun sighed in surrender and peeked out. Immediately, his eyes widened and he let out an impressed whistle.

“Seyoon, you too.” Seyoon let himself be dragged over by Junhee, and he too responded to the growing audience with a murmur of “damn.” It was clear that none of them had ever seen crowds of such calibre before.

“There sure is a lot of people out there,” Donghun chuckled nervously, and Junhee smiled and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry guys,” he said, rubbing comforting circles with his thumb. “Think about how hard we’ve worked for this. We are _more_ than ready to take this on.” From over the speakers, they heard a voice calling out for all performers and crew to gather in the hall for a final group cheer, and Junhee swallowed hard. “We have come so far in the past four months, and I am so proud of each and every one of you. I just want you guys to know that no matter what happens, I’m honoured to be on this team with you, and we will get through this show together.”

“Aw, you big sap!” Yoochan squealed and pounced on Junhee, knocking all the air out of him.

“We’re honoured to be on a team with you too,” said Byeongkwan, wrapping his arms around Yoochan and pulling Donghun and Seyoon in with him.

“Oh god, we seem to be doing an unnatural amount of group hugs recently,” Seyoon grumbled as he found his face pressed into the back of Junhee’s neck. Donghun just laughed and offered one tight squeeze before letting his hands fall back down to his sides.

“C’mon, team,” he said, pulling Junhee out of Yoochan’s grasp and toward the direction of the gathering crew in the hallway. “Let’s do this.”

\-------------

Donghun watched the flashes of light dancing around, casting shadows on himself and Junhee as they waited in the wings for their cue. He listened as the deafening screams of tens of thousands of fans echoed through his ears and scrambled his brain, and he wished longingly that he was the one on stage, that they were screaming for him. 

Beside him stood Junhee, face half-hidden by the fluttering of the curtains. He would have been the perfect picture of composure if it weren’t for the shaking of his hands. Donghun reached out and grasped one of them to stop the shaking.

“Stop it. You were so confident a few minutes ago.”

Junhee sighed and turned to Donghun, his darkly-lined eyes fluttering open and shut. “I’m sorry, I just – I thought I was okay because I’ve been prepping myself up for this for so long, but now that it’s actually happening – ”

“ – It’s a lot scarier, right?” Donghun nodded. “Don’t worry. I’m nervous too. If you weren’t nervous right now, you wouldn’t be human. In fact, I feel a little short of breath right now, and this stupid choker they put me in isn’t helping.” Junhee chuckled and reached up his free hand to tug at Donghun’s choker. “Anyway,” Donghun continued, “I’m sure if you asked Byeongkwan, or Seyoon, or Yoochan all the way on the other side of the stage right now, they’d tell you the same thing. You’re Park Junhee. This should be a piece of cake.”

Junhee smiled fondly. “Thanks, Hun.”

They heard the crowd cheering wildly, felt the stage dim and the shuffling of footsteps as crew members worked frantically backstage to set up for the next few stages. Donghun dropped Junhee’s hand and shot him an excited grin, and the two of them sprinted onto stage. He caught a quick glance of Byeongkwan, Seyoon, and Yoochan running towards them from the opposite end of the wings and managed to flash them a half-hidden thumbs-up before hurrying to his position behind Taemin. All of a sudden, the stage came back to life, and the entire arena was illuminated with the flashing of spotlights and an ocean of lightsticks waving in rhythm, and Donghun felt an indescribable swelling in his chest as the very first show of Tour Galaxie officially kicked off.

\-------------

“Hey. How are you holding up?”

Seyoon looked up and gratefully accepted the water bottle Byeongkwan offered him. “Good. Tired, but good. You?”

Byeongkwan grinned toothily. “Same. Can you believe it’s almost over?” Seyoon shook his head.

“No, it’s crazy. It feels so weird, knowing we’ve put months of work into this, and all of a sudden, the show’s over just like that.”

“Hey now, it’s just the first show. We still have twenty-nine to enjoy after today.” Byeongkwan glanced up at the monitor, where the NOVA members looked to be bowing over and over again as confetti rained down upon them. “Oh, looks like it’s time for us to get up there one last time!” He tugged Seyoon up off the waiting room sofa. “Come on.”

They ran into the other three lurking by the snacks table, and soon all five of them were waiting in the wings for their signal to go onstage. Over the roaring screams of the audience, they heard Suho yell out his ending ment.

“Thank you, all our lovely Comets for your never-ending love and support!”

(“Why are their fans called Comets anyway?” Seyoon whispered.

“To go with the space theme!” Yoochan whispered back. “You know, comets, space, supernova? NOVA, supernova?”

“Oh, is _that_ what it’s short for?”)

“And once again, we would not be standing up here if it weren’t for all of you, so thank you! We love you! Now, I just want all of you to know that there are some very important people here that we could not have done this concert without. For our final stage tonight, can we please have all our staff, crew, and performers onstage with us to perform one last song?”

The five dancers looped their arms around each other and pranced onstage, wide grins on their faces. Suho beamed in greeting, and Seokjin ran over to envelop Junhee in a large hug, much to the delight of the fans. The final song began blaring from the speakers, a cheesy, feel-good song that was guaranteed to make anyone smile, and from the looks on everyone’s faces, the song was succeeding. The members of NOVA danced and sang along, Seokjin with his arm still around Junhee’s as they skipped laps around the stage, Donghun following behind, happily waving to the audience. Yoochan had made his way next to Taemin again, and the two of them were engaged in a friendly dance battle while a few other cast and staff members, as well as all the audience members in the nearby vicinity, cheered them on. Byeongkwan and Seyoon tried to hold back their laughter as Byeongkwan pointed at Manager Kim, who was awkwardly bobbing to the music over in the sidelines.

“Hey, Junhee, look,” yelled Donghun, pointing into the audience. Junhee squinted, then laughed out loud when he realized exactly where Donghun was pointing to. Somehow, amidst all the NOVA posters and banners, there was a group of five or six girls who had taken the time to make their own Park Junhee and Lee Donghun light-up signs. One of them even waved around a poster with a particularly unflattering picture of Junhee, which Donghun couldn’t stop chuckling over. The girls were currently squealing at being noticed by their favourite trainees, and Junhee waved at them, causing them to fall into a wailing fit. Donghun laughed and slung an arm around Junhee.

“Got to stop killing people with that charisma of yours.” In a burst of confidence, he shot Junhee a wink, then waved a finger heart in the direction of the girls, who had just started to calm down again. In a second, they were caught in another wailing fit.

Junhee looked slightly dazed. “Look who’s talking,” he murmured.

“Thank you, Comets! I love you!”

“Love you, Comets!”

The NOVA members bellowed out their last farewells to the screaming crowd as they stood in a line onstage, the rest of the cast and crew standing behind them. As the lights slowly dimmed and the music faded out, Seyoon caught a glimpse of Byeongkwan and Yoochan laughing to each other, and of Donghun tenderly picking a piece of confetti out of Junhee’s hair, and he smiled to himself. With the tour having officially begun, the next four months were sure to be a summer he’d never forget.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> //peeks out from behind a tree  
> hi everyone!! sorry this chapter is so so late hahaha, it's that time of year when summer turns into fall, which obviously means i got sick bc my immune system is shit   
> BUT IM BACK and the boys are going on tour!! finally!! they're still in korea rn but p soon they're gonna be travelling together oooo  
> so how have you guys been? anyone else dying over the bts comeback?? (also b1a4 just announced their comeback and im freaking out from that as well)  
> im so tired of being cooped up indoors all day so if u ever wanna chat hmu on tumblr @kim-seyooned!


	13. Calm Before the Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys prepare for their very last day before going overseas. Byeongkwan formally meets Seyoon's Mom. Yoochan is still messy. Junhee and Donghun are...weird.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you @northisland-southernpeninsula for beta-ing!

“ – And someone even threw underwear on the stage. Of course, it was aimed at Seokjin, but you should have seen how flustered Byeongkwan got. It’s like you’ve never seen underwear before.”

“I’ve never had it flung in my direction,” Byeongkwan shot back indignantly. “And I wasn’t flustered, just a little surprised.”

Seyoon smirked. “Well, I found a fantaken video of Seokjin during the performance with you very clearly behind him, so we can re-watch just how surprised you got. You really should have been there, Mom. You would have found it hilarious.” He smiled and patted Mrs. Kim’s hand, being especially careful to not touch the heart rate monitor clipped onto her finger.

Byeongkwan had tagged along for one of Seyoon’s regular trips to the hospital, this one being special because it was the last chance he got to visit before the five of them left for the next leg of Tour Galaxie in China. Upon arriving in the hospital room, Seyoon had eagerly introduced Byeongkwan to his mother because they had not been properly acquainted the last time he was here.

“It’s my first time bringing a friend to visit,” Seyoon said. “You should feel special.”

“I do feel special.” Byeongkwan took a seat on the stool next to the hospital bed, placing the flowers he had brought on the table next to him. Seyoon nodded approvingly.

“She’ll like those. Daffodils were always her favourite.” Byeongkwan paused and gave him an amused smile.

“You know, you two might look alike, but you’re actually really different,” he observed.

“How so?”

“Well, for one, she likes daffodils.”

“Who said I don’t like daffodils?”

“Really?” Byeongkwan raised an eyebrow. “They’re so…bright and yellow, and you’re so…”

“Dark and gloomy?”

“Not what I meant.”

Seyoon chuckled. “It’s fine, I’m kidding.” He gazed fondly down at his mother’s sleeping face. “Daffodils were always more her thing. She’s the green thumb of the family. Honestly, I’m more of the kind of person to accidentally kill anything I own, but I’ll try my best to keep those alive.” He nodded at the new flowers Byeongkwan had brought.

The two boys spent the next couple of minutes lounging about the room, Byeongkwan asking Seyoon questions as the other meticulously repositioned the objects scattered on the hospital table.

“Is she a good cook?”

“The best,” Seyoon sighed, a small smile tugging on the corner of his mouth as he straightened out a small stack of papers. “At one point, she had to stop cooking because Dad was gaining too much weight.”

Byeongkwan grinned. “So, you weren’t allowed to eat either?”

“Oh, no. Mom felt bad for me, so she’d make me food when Dad wasn’t home. It was fun keeping that a secret from him.”

Seyoon finished his desk-cleaning and took his seat by the side of his mother’s head. Byeongkwan watched as he tenderly brushed the hair away from her face. It amazed him just as much this time as it did the first time that Kim Seyoon had the capacity for this much fondness for any person. The content, loving expression on the normally stony boy’s face turned him into a completely different person. New Seyoon wasn’t cold and intimidating. New Seyoon liked to let soft smiles adorn his face and wasn’t afraid to share all his thoughts, even the nice, good ones. Byeongkwan decided he quite liked this new Seyoon.

“What about you?”

Byeongkwan blinked. “What?”

“What about your parents?” Seyoon asked. “Do they live in Seoul?”

“Oh. Uh, no.” Byeongkwan pursed his lips awkwardly. “They’re in Daegu.”

Seyoon took no notice of the sudden change in the other boy’s mood. “That’s not too far away. Do you visit them often?”

Byeongkwan stayed still for a few seconds before shaking his head. “No.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know.”

Seyoon finally detected the reserved tone in the other’s voice and looked up. “Byeongkwan? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just – ” Byeongkwan sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “My parents and I had a falling out about college a few years ago, and I ended up running from home to Seoul.”

He waited for Seyoon to finish staring at him. “No way,” said Seyoon, incredulous. “You _ran from home_?”

“It’s really not as dramatic as it sounds,” Byeongkwan explained, twiddling his thumbs. “It’s not like I changed my entire identity and I’m on the run from my parents. I just booked a late-night train to Seoul. I figured I’d try my hand at making a career for myself, and once my parents saw how much I wanted this they’d support me and we could figure everything out from there.”

“Did they support you?” Seyoon asked quietly. Byeongkwan slowly took a deep breath.

“I…I don’t think so. My mom says she does, but I think she just wants me to go home.”

“And do you want to go home?”

Byeongkwan thought about his mother, who used to pick him up after dance class and take him to get ice cream, and he nodded. “Yeah. I do.”

They sat in silence for a few seconds, Seyoon observing carefully as the other boy frowned, deep in thought. Finally, he spoke up.

“As someone who knows a little too much about regret, take it from me – if I could give anything to spend a day with my Mom again, I would. Before it’s too late.”

\-------------

Junhee had a problem, and that problem was Lee Donghun.

Over the past few days, he had noticed something about the other trainee that he hadn’t before. It had nothing to do with the way he danced, or the breathing techniques he’d use to calm himself down, or even his heavenly singing voice. No, it was nothing like that.

He noticed that he smelled good.

Was he weird? Was it creepy that he noticed stuff like that?

It wasn’t just that Donghun smelled good, it was that Donghun smelled unbelievably, insanely good. They had all been preparing for the second Seoul show when Donghun had barged into Junhee’s room, hair completely a mess and waving the first shirt they were to wear that night around in the air.

“Junhee. Junhee. Help me.”

Junhee turned off his hairdryer and set it on the table. “What is it?”

“Smell!” Donghun waved his shirt around a bit more before abruptly turning to the side to let out a loud sneeze, and Junhee was immediately hit by an intense wave of what seemed to be cologne. “It’s terrible!”

“Bless you. God, Hun, that’s pretty strong,” Junhee coughed. “Why’d you spray so much on?”

“I spilled my entire bottle on this shirt by accident,” Donghun moaned miserably. “I don’t have time to wash it before we leave, and I can’t stop sneezing. What do I do?”

“You know, it’s not actually that bad.” Junhee took another small sniff. “I kind of like it.” Donghun gave him a weird look.

“I smell like the entire perfume section of a department store.”

“Here, why don’t we do this.” Junhee dug around inside his wardrobe and pulled out his own matching black shirt. “You wear mine, and I’ll wear yours. I don’t mind.”

“Are you sure?” Asked Donghun as he skeptically took the offered shirt. Junhee shrugged.

“Yeah. Can’t have you sneezing through the whole performance now, can we?”

As if on cue, Donghun threw his head back and gave another big sneeze, and he practically hurled his cologne-doused shirt at Junhee. “Okay, that’s perfect, thanks so much.” He sneezed again as he hurried out the room. “I owe you one!”

Junhee glanced down at the shirt in his hands after the door slammed shut behind Donghun. Once you got used to the smell, it wasn’t that bad. In fact, it was quite nice. Junhee took another small whiff. Donghun’s cologne smelled earthy and fresh, which somehow seemed quite fitting. He could detect slight floral notes in the scent as well, and he tried his best to identify the flower when he realized that he had spent the last few minutes with his nose buried in Donghun’s shirt, sniffing vigorously. He quickly tossed the piece of fabric onto his bed, shaking his head.

_Don’t be weird, Junhee._

A few days later, Junhee found himself carefully stepping into Donghun’s room, making sure not to knock anything over or move anything out of place. He crept over to the bedside table. Donghun had left for groceries a half hour ago, which meant Junhee had just enough time to carry out his mission.

After the concert, Donghun had taken his shirt back, grateful but determined to stick it in the wash for a couple of spins. Strangely, Junhee couldn’t stop thinking of Donghun’s cologne. In the few hours that he had been in possession of the shirt, the smell had really grown on him. It was like discovering a new favourite song, or a book that you couldn’t put down, except in this case, it was a scent.

Junhee carefully pulled out the top drawer of the bedside table, but all he found were numerous vitamins and random scraps of paper receipts. He tried the second drawer. No cologne there, either, only a box of cotton buds and some hand cream.

If he were a bottle of cologne, where would he hide? _Of course!_ Junhee snapped his fingers in realization and hurried over to the dresser. Donghun always kept his miscellaneous objects in the top drawer. He pulled it open and grinned in victory as he was met with a clear, glass spray bottle with a shiny, silver cap. He reached in and grabbed it before scampering out the room.

Junhee sat cross-legged on his bed, examining the bottle. It was empty – of course it was, the entire reason this was happening was because Donghun had spilled the whole thing on his shirt. He recognized the brand. They sold this at the department store a few metro stops away. If he really liked the smell, he could go and buy himself a bottle. _No,_ thought Junhee, shaking his head. The scent was signature _Donghun_. If anyone else wore it, it wouldn’t be the same.

He pulled out his phone and quickly snapped a picture of the label before getting up from his bed to put the bottle back in the dresser drawer. It was best to get it back where it belonged before Donghun noticed it was gone. That would just lead to a lot of awkward explaining, which would be uncomfortable for everyone.

As he stepped back out of Donghun’s room, feeling a little victorious from his successful mission, the front door swung open and in walked Donghun, arms filled with bags of groceries. “Hey, Junhee,” he greeted as he dumped everything he was carrying onto the kitchen counter.

“Hey, Hun!” Junhee cheerfully replied as he headed over to the kitchen to help unload. “What’d you buy?”

Donghun washed his hands in the sink and dried them off on the front of his shirt. “You know, meat, veggies, fruit, the usual. I also got a bunch of travel-sized stuff, since we’re going to be gone for a while, and I’m really trying my best to pack light. Here’s some shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, lotion. Oh, there was also this great sale on sushi at the supermarket, so I got a few boxes – are you sniffing me?”

“What?” Junhee drew back violently as if Donghun had shocked him. “N-no, of course not. Why would I do that? That’s weird.”

Donghun looked at Junhee strangely and slowly turned back to his groceries. “Yeah…that is weird.”

Junhee quickly excused himself and retreated to his room, a little mortified at being caught. He hadn’t been able to stop himself – ever since the day of the concert, he couldn’t help noticing the faint scent of earth and fresh flowers that Donghun seemed to naturally give off. If it went on for any longer, it would become a serious problem.

Frustrated, Junhee tangled his hands in his hair and toppled down onto his bed.

\-------------

He finally decided that it had indeed become a serious problem when the next day, he returned home from the store, package in his hands which he threw at Donghun, who was lounging about on the couch. Donghun looked up confusedly.

“What’s this?”

Junhee shrugged as Donghun picked the package up, turning it over in his hands. “Nothing.”

“Is this…my cologne?” Donghun pulled a brand-new, unopened bottle out from the package and squinted at the label. Junhee cleared his throat.

“Yeah, I know you spilled your other one, so, you know, I got you a new one.”

“Oh, you didn’t have to – ” Donghun started, but before he could finish, Junhee had already fled the room.

\-------------

“I swear to god, Chan,” grunted Junhee in frustration. “It’s only been three goddamn days.” Yoochan lifted his hands in protest.

“I don’t know how it happens, trash just builds up around me! I’m like that one kid from Peanuts, the one that’s always dirty.”

“What’s Peanuts?”

“You know, the comic strip? Snoopy? Never mind.”

“Oh, yeah. Snoopy.” Junhee crawled out from under the bed, balls of dust hanging off his sweater and hair. He dumped the pieces of balled up paper and assorted long-lost trinkets he had found onto the floor. “Here. Sort this out.”

“Thanks, Jun.”

Junhee sighed in relief and sprawled out on Yoochan’s bed, watching as the other boy hurried to sort the trinkets into his “keep” and “toss” piles. It had been a long, long day of packing, and somehow Yoochan had managed to turn his bedroom into a landfill again, so Junhee, having already finished his packing, offered to help.

He hadn’t realized how draining of a task it was and was now seriously impressed with Donghun, who had been regularly volunteering for the past four months.

“Done,” Yoochan grinned proudly, backing up from his neatly stacked piles. “I think I can start actually packing now.”

Junhee rolled his eyes and sat up. “You haven’t started packing? Come on, Chan, you know we’re leaving tomorrow, right?”

“I know, I know,” Yoochan groaned as he pulled his suitcase out of his closet. “I suck, I know. Now get off my bed, I need it to sort my clothes on.”

Junhee hopped off Yoochan’s bed and made his way to the kitchen, where Seyoon was sitting at the table, spreading peanut butter on a slice of toast. He looked up when Junhee sat across from him.

“Hey,” he greeted.

“Hey,” Junhee greeted back. Seyoon nodded awkwardly and returned to his toast. Junhee bit his lip and glanced around the kitchen, racking his brain for something to talk about. Him and Seyoon weren’t normally alone in a room together, and he had always found it a little difficult to talk to the quiet, reserved boy. “So, are you ready for the flight tomorrow?”

Seyoon looked up from his toast again. “Huh? Oh, yeah, I think so.”

Junhee nodded. “Cool. Me too.” Seyoon nodded again and took a bite of his toast.

After a few more minutes of excruciating silence, the front door clicked open, and Junhee nearly let out a breath of relief as Donghun stepped into the room. “Oh, hey guys,” he said as he placed a step of papers down on the kitchen counter and took his shoes off. “Junhee, we got more mail.”

Junhee perked up. “Really?” He bounded over to the counter and picked an envelope out of the stack, ripping it open. “Oh, this one’s so cute!”

“Yeah,” Donghun smiled as he took a seat by the counter and picked up an envelope as well. “I figured I’d go pick up our mail since we’re leaving tomorrow.”

Junhee eagerly ripped open his next envelope. As he pulled out the letter, a few photos dropped out. Donghun reached out and picked one up.

“Whoa, Junhee, are these photos of you?”

Junhee picked the rest of the photos up, examining them. “Huh, I think this was when I went to the grocery store the other week. And this was me on my way back from the company building a few days ago. And this one was from that day we went to Gangnam to pick up our stage outfits from the tailor.” He unfolded the letter, squinting at it. Donghun glanced at him, concerned.

“Why does this person have all these pictures of you? That’s a bit stalker-ish, isn’t it?”

“What? No, of course not!” Junhee looked up from his letter. “I think it’s sweet. Fans take pictures of their idols all the time. Look, they even wrote in their letter – they’re a huge fan of me, and they can’t wait for my debut.”

“Let me see that.” Donghun snatched the letter out of Junhee’s hands. “She said she can’t wait to meet you face to face, and that she loves you more than anything in the world, including her parents, and she’d do anything for you. That sounds stalker-ish to me.”

Junhee waved a hand around dismissively. “Calm down, Hun. Fans say stuff like that all the time. Last time, I had one that told me they broke up with their boyfriend just because he didn’t like my hair.”

“See, that’s the kind of creepy I’m talking about,” Donghun said seriously, placing the letter back on the kitchen counter. “Junhee, I really think you need to start being careful about potential sasaeng fans.”

Junhee scoffed. “I think you’re being a bit dramatic, Hun – ”

“I’m serious, Junhee.” Donghun’s tone was suddenly stern, and Junhee stopped talking mid-sentence. “Don’t underestimate what those fans can do.”

“Okay, but, we haven’t even debuted yet. I really don’t think we’d have any sasaeng fans yet.” Junhee didn’t understand why Donghun seemed to be getting so worked up about this. So what if his fans went a little overboard sometimes? He was grateful that they’d even be his fans in the first place. Besides, he looked good in those photos.

Donghun narrowed his eyes. “I think you underestimate your own popularity, Junhee. You’re way more well-known than any of us. There’s so many people out there who are crazy about you, but couldn’t care less about the…rest of us…” He slowly trailed off, eyes darting back to the letter on the counter. “Let me see that again.”

“Okay?” Junhee barely had time to respond before Donghun had snatched the letter up again, peering closely at it. After a few seconds, his eyes widened the slightest bit, and he darted off in the direction of his room without saying another word, leaving a bewildered Junhee sitting alone at the kitchen counter, surrounded by a stack of letters.

“What was that all about?” He murmured as he reached out to the next letter on the pile. Seyoon, who had been quietly eating and observing from his seat at the table, just shrugged and made a noncommittal grunt.

He had, however, more of an idea of what could possibly be going on than Junhee did, and his suspicions were later confirmed when he slipped into Donghun’s room while the other boy was out. He had been in here a couple times before, usually to empty out the older boy’s trash can when he was taking the trash out. One day, about a month and a half ago, he had noticed the can filled to the brim with crumpled up papers, and he had let his curiosity get the best of him and taken a piece out to examine it. As he smoothed the paper out, he had realized, heart sinking into his stomach, that it was a letter addressed to Donghun from a fan, except upon closer inspection it turned out to not be from a fan at all. In fact, it was quite the opposite. In the letter, the sender had written in great detail how much they hated Donghun, how ugly he was, and how he did not ever deserve to debut. Not knowing what to do, Seyoon had thrown the letter back in the can and left the room.

Now, as Seyoon crept to the same trash can, he noticed two crumpled up pages that had not been there before. The first was Junhee’s letter, the one Donghun had stormed out with earlier that day. Seyoon carefully smoothed out the second letter and sucked in a deep breath. Written in angrier-looking but still unarguably the same handwriting as Junhee’s letter were the words:

_Lee Donghun,_

_You don’t deserve Park Junhee. You’re nothing but a burden to him._

_It’d be better for everyone if you were dead._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol it's been so long i don't even remember how this website works
> 
> HI GUYS!! Sorry this took forever to post!! School and travelling and life just got in the way (also apparently what i thought was a cold was actually bronchitis, so i'm STILL sick). This was supposed to be a double update to make up for my month off, but i was too excited after finishing this chapter and I had to post it :)
> 
> ANYWAYS  
> a million things has happened since i last posted, callin' amirite??? the unit, amirite????? mixnine, amirite????????? its too much for a choice to handle
> 
> if you wanna talk abt it or anything hmu @kim-seyooned :)))


	14. The Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys begin their travels overseas. Junhee and Donghun are an absolute mess of emotions. (You could say........this is an adventure calling emotions lmao im letting myself out)

Yoochan hauled the last of his luggage into the nearly overflowing trunk and clambered into his seat in the middle row of the van to join the others. Seyoon sat upright and rigid, eyes closed, Byeongkwan and Junhee had their heads propped on top of one another as they snoozed in the backseat, and Donghun sat in an end seat in the middle row, staring expressionlessly out the window. Manager Kim tutted as he climbed in the front seat. 

“Already five minutes behind schedule, what am I supposed to do with you, seriously…”

It had been, surprisingly enough, Donghun’s fault that they were running late. The oldest boy, who was usually impeccably punctual and by far the most responsible out of the five of them, had started off the day by completely missing his alarm. It had taken the collective efforts of Junhee, Byeongkwan, and Yoochan to pull him out of bed. He had continued his disastrous streak by spilling scalding hot coffee over himself, briefly misplacing his passport and boarding pass, and returning to the apartment not once, but twice because he had forgotten something. Needless to say, Manager Kim was not impressed. 

“Hey, Hun, can you pass me your charger?” 

Donghun showed no sign of having heard, and Yoochan frowned. Something was up with Donghun today. The boy seemed a little off. He repeated his question.

“Donghun, can I borrow your charger?”

Donghun started and glanced at Yoochan with wide eyes, almost as if he had forgotten there were other people in the car with him. “Oh, yeah, of course.” He reached in his bag and pulled it out, handing it to Yoochan.

“Thanks.”

Donghun gave a tight smile in response and resumed staring out the window. The engine revved awake, and by the time the car finally departed for the airport, everyone else, even Manager Kim, had fallen asleep. Not Donghun, though. He just stared out the window. 

\-------------

Donghun was exhausted. He had barely gotten a wink of sleep last night, having stayed up until the early hours of the morning tossing and turning in bed. He hadn’t been able to get Junhee’s letter out of his head. 

He had never been one to take much offense at hate mail. Over the years, you get used to it, and eventually it barely even stings anymore. Usually, he’d just toss the letters in the trash, barely paying them any mind. However, this time it was different. This time, Junhee was involved. 

Park Junhee. Why was it so tiring looking after him, and why couldn’t Donghun stop? Sure, the fan letters addressed to him weren’t filled with thinly veiled threats and sharp insults like his hate mail was, but that didn’t make Donghun any less worried. He had read countless reports of sasaeng fans going rogue in the past, and he had even been in King Entertainment long enough to have seen the damage some of those fans had done to his fellow labelmates. What troubled him more was that Junhee did not seem to understand what exactly a sasaeng fan could do. _He_ had not been there when NOVA were still rookies and sasaengs got out of hand. Eventually, the company had to put an end to it by firing a series of lawsuits, which led to stress, overwork, and increasingly shorter tempers. It had not been fun for anyone involved, and Donghun had seen some of the joy and novelty of performing be taken away from the newly-debuted NOVA members. He never wanted that to happen to Junhee. 

Donghun sighed as he glanced back at the other members who were sleeping peacefully in the car. Junhee’s long, shaggy hair covered half of Byeongkwan’s face as he leant on top of the other boy’s head. With everyone asleep and no one watching, Donghun allowed himself to carefully take in Junhee’s features, something he liked to do when he was sure he wouldn’t be caught. 

He studied his brown hair, his long eyelashes that fluttered as he slept, his straight nose, his sharp jawline. When they had first met, he had been jealous of the other trainee. Junhee was too handsome, too talented, and too loved – how was he supposed to compete with that? 

It was different now, though. Something had changed, and the envy that Donghun used to feel had transformed into a feeling he couldn’t quite name. It could only be described as the constant need to protect his friend, and occasionally still finding himself short of breath with a racing heartbeat when Junhee flashed his mega-watt smile at him. 

He could never tell this to anyone, though. Donghun by no means had an over-abundance of friends in his life, but he did have a few, and he knew that none of his other friends had ever left him breathless before. It just wasn’t normal, and so Donghun pushed thoughts of breathlessness and fluttering hearts to the back of his head, and leant his chin on the headrest, staring thoughtfully at the way Junhee’s chest rose and fell as he snoozed away. 

Junhee was too nice. He was a natural-born leader, there was no denying it, and if they managed to debut together, Donghun would be nothing but proud to have Junhee lead his group. There was something discouraging about his never-ending friendliness, however, when Donghun saw how his friend seemed to know every single person in the world and treated them with nothing but absolute joy and kindness, and Donghun would no longer feel special, but instead like Junhee’s shadow, trailing behind him and forgotten. Perhaps he did still feel a sense of jealousy for Park Junhee – only now, it was a different type of jealousy. It made him uncomfortable. 

There was some shuffling from the backseat. Byeongkwan had woken up. Donghun immediately spun back around, praying that he hadn’t been caught creepily staring, but Byeongkwan had been too groggy to notice, and after mumbling a few nonsensical sentences about ramen and Master Chef, he had fallen back asleep. Donghun heaved a sigh of relief. 

This was ridiculous. He hadn’t noticed how dependent he had gotten on Junhee – they couldn’t even sit in separate rows without Donghun turning a 180 in his seat to be able to face Junhee’s direction. Maybe what he really needed was to give Junhee his space – that would give himself some time to think things through, and maybe then they’d go back to how they used to be, with Donghun reasonably enjoying Junhee’s attention, not desperately craving it. 

\-------------

“Does everyone have their passports and boarding passes? Yes? Good. Junhee, you go ahead first.”

The boys lined up in front of the gate, showing the smiling flight attendant their passes one-by-one and boarding the tunnel to the airplane. Yoochan looked around in childlike wonder.

“Wow, is this what a plane looks like?”

Junhee smiled fondly at the younger boy, who had his suitcase in one hand and an enormous hiking backpack slung around his other arm. “We’re not on the plane yet, Chan. Have you never flown before?” Yoochan shook his head eagerly. 

“Nope! This is my first time.”

Byeongkwan strolled up on the other side of Yoochan, carrying nothing but a duffel bag. “For real? This is a big deal, then,” he said seriously. “Did you know that when we go into the air, there’s no more gravity, and only the seatbelts keep you strapped to the seat?”

Yoochan’s eyes widened to the size of saucers. “Really?”

“Of course,” Byeongkwan nodded. “It’s because of the sudden change in altitude. You could totally fly if you unbuckle your seatbelt.”

“I’m going to try it,” said Yoochan. Byeongkwan grinned. 

“Only after the seatbelt sign turns off, though. Also, if you open the window, you can reach out and touch the clouds.”

“No way. Have you touched clouds before?”

“Of course, I have,” said Byeongkwan, waving a hand around. “They’re soft and fluffy, like cotton. I even saw some birds sleeping on clouds before.”

Upon hearing this new information, Yoochan doubled his pace to get to the airplane, eager to see the birds and touch the clouds. Junhee shook his head in amusement as he watched him dart away.

“Poor kid. You’re evil for that, you know.”

Byeongkwan laughed. “Don’t worry. He’ll realize the truth when he unbuckles his seatbelt and doesn’t go flying through the cabin. What’s life without a little imagination, anyway?”

Upon arriving in the plane and struggling their way through the narrow aisle, the five of them carefully stowed their baggage away in the overhead bins and took their seats. Much to everyone’s bewilderment, Donghun did not take the empty seat next to an expectant-looking Junhee, but rather settled in the row behind him, wordlessly staring out the airplane window. Seyoon frowned, but made no comment as he sat next to Junhee instead. A few rows back, Byeongkwan, who had been trying to get Seyoon to sit with him on the flight for the past hour, sulked as Manager Kim set his bags down beside him. 

Yoochan eagerly climbed into the seat next to Donghun and buckled his seatbelt. “Oh boy,” he chattered, beaming brightly as Donghun turned away from the window to look at him. “I am so excited for this. I’ve wanted to go on an airplane my entire life. I’m so excited to be able to experience zero-gravity. I wonder how we’re going to be able to eat? Or go to the bathroom? Well, I guess I’ll just have to find out! I hope we’re lucky enough to see some cloud birds. I wonder if the clouds feel like cotton candy.” He gasped. “I wonder if the clouds _taste_ like cotton candy.”

Donghun blinked. “…Cloud birds?”

\-------------

When the plane landed in the Shanghai Pudong airport two hours later (with a grumpy Yoochan grumbling about how they had not opened the windows a single time), everyone was more than ready to settle down in the hotel and take a nice, proper nap. Manager Kim, however, seemed to have a different idea. 

“Okay, gang, are we all here? One, two, three, four…who’s missing? Where’s Byeongkwan?”

“Bathroom. Too many cups of orange juice.”

“Oh. Thank you, Junhee. Well, when he gets back, we are all going to take a taxi over to our hotel, quickly drop our things off, and then NOVA’s manager and I would like to take all of you boys out for a big group meal.” He clapped his hands together. “Kind of like a ‘welcome to the next part of the tour’ present. Sound good?”

At the promise of free food, moods considerably lifted, and the boys hurried to make their way over to the taxis, hastily dumping their suitcases into the trunks, ignoring the scandalized faces of the taxi drivers who usually loaded the luggage themselves to earn an extra buck from unsuspecting tourists. In the distance at the arrivals gate of the next terminal, a crowd was already starting to form, excited fans eagerly awaiting the appearance of the NOVA members, who weren’t due to arrive for another hour. 

For all of them except Byeongkwan, who had been there with his family for vacation a couple times, and Manager Kim, this was their first ever visit to China. Yoochan kept his face pressed against the taxi window the entire ride, eyes wide open. Donghun sat stiffly with one hand gripped tight around the handlebar on the door.

“Does he really need to drive this fast?” He yelped as the taxi made another sharp turn, barely squeezing in between two other cars, who both honked angrily. From beside him, Byeongkwan laughed happily.

“Welcome to Shanghai, Hun,” he said, patting Donghun on the back. “A city of blatant disregard for any traffic laws.”

“You can’t actually be _enjoying_ this?”

Byeongkwan shrugged defensively. “What, it’s fun! Have a little faith, Donghun. They’ve been doing this all their lives, we’re not going to crash.”

Donghun moaned, looking out the window again. The taxi was still squeezed in between two cars, nonchalantly (and definitely illegally) driving right on top of the dashed lines of the traffic lane. “They could have at least added seatbelts.”

“Don’t be silly, Hun, no one in China wears seatbelts.”

\-------------

The taxi pulled up to the front of the hotel and Donghun was the first to stumble out, looking slightly green. “No seatbelts…ran three red lights…that poor pigeon…” he muttered shakily under his breath.

Byeongkwan emerged from the car as well, wide smile on his face, and one by one the rest of the boys followed him. Manager Kim was the last to climb out, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. 

“Grab your bags,” he paused to yawn. “And then follow me.”

The five boys followed their manager into the hotel lobby, struggling the entire time with their heavy suitcases. Yoochan stopped, entranced, to examine the giant fish tank filled with koi fish next to the revolving doors.

Manager Kim finished checking in at the front desk and ushered them all into the elevator. Fitting six people and their suitcases into one elevator was a bit of a struggle, but somehow, they figured it out and made their way together to the eighth floor. 

“These are your rooms,” said Manager Kim, stopping in front of 814 and 815. He handed Junhee two key cards. “814 has two beds, and 815 has three. You can sort out roommates on your own. I’ll leave you boys to get settled in. Remember to meet in the downstairs lobby in an hour!”

After their manager left, probably to take a nap in his own room, Junhee turned to the others. “Well then, I’ll take this room,” he said, gesturing to 814. “Does anyone want the other card?”

“I’ll take it!” Byeongkwan raised his hand, and Junhee handed the card to him.

“Should we sort out roommates?”

No one was surprised when Byeongkwan immediately reached a hand out and latched onto Seyoon’s arm. “Seyoon’s with me.” Seyoon, who had no say in the matter, just looked amused.

“I’ll, uh, I’ll room with you guys, too.”

Four pairs of eyes blinked in confusion as Donghun spoke up, glancing first from Donghun, then to a slightly shocked Junhee, and then back at Donghun. Byeongkwan quickly nodded.

“Yeah! Yeah, of course!”

“So I guess it’s you and me, Chan,” said Junhee, giving the younger boy a small smile. Yoochan smiled back as he started dragging his suitcase toward room 814. “Let’s all get settled in, and have a good rest, okay? I’ll see the rest of you downstairs.”

The other four nodded, and Junhee clicked the door to his room open without another word. 

\-------------

_Knock, knock, knock._

“You get it, Byeongkwan.”

Byeongkwan groaned and rolled over. “But this bed is so comfortable…” he whined. Seyoon gave him an unamused glance, and Byeongkwan sighed and rolled onto the ground. “Fine.”

He got up and dusted himself off, walking over to the door and swinging it open. “Oh, hey, Chan. Where’s Junhee?”

Yoochan entered the room, holding a bag of chips. “He went to look for a convenience store,” he said, plopping himself down onto the ground. “Said something about buying Seokjin some snacks, since idols aren’t allowed to go.”

Donghun sat still on his bed, wordlessly scrolling around on his phone as he had been for the past twenty minutes. None of them had mentioned the elephant in the room, the strange roommate arrangement. Byeongkwan had wanted to, but didn’t want to risk making the atmosphere any more awkward than it already was. He thought that perhaps this was the longest Donghun and Junhee had ever gone being apart from each other. 

Did something happen to the two of them? Did he miss something? Seyoon was no help – the other boy wasn’t responding to any of his sneaky curious texts, even though he was clearly also on his phone. 

Yoochan happily opened his bag of chips. Donghun finally looked up at the sound.

“Don’t eat those, you’ll ruin your appetite before dinner.”

Yoochan rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry, Mom. My appetite never gets ruined.” Donghun snorted and returned his attention to his phone. 

“Whatever you say.”

Byeongkwan, who had been standing by the door and staring out into the hallway for the past few minutes, suddenly left the room with a quick mutter of “Be right back.” The other three stared at his back as he disappeared past the doorframe.

“Where’s he going?” Yoochan asked, and the other two shrugged.

They got the answer a few seconds later when they heard loud, thumping footsteps and then saw what they could only assume to be Byeongkwan whizzing past the door, yelping gleefully. 

“…the hell?” 

Seyoon climbed out of bed when he heard a faint crashing coming from the hallway a few seconds later. “Byeongkwan, what the hell are you doing?” He asked tiredly, peeking out of the door. Byeongkwan popped up in front of him with the biggest smile on his face.

“I was right! These are waxed floors!”

“What?”

“No way,” said Yoochan, scrambling to get up from his spot on the floor. “You’re right. These are waxed floors.”

“What?” Seyoon shook his head, glancing back at Donghun, who only shrugged at him. “Am I missing something here? So, what if they’re waxed floors?”

Byeongkwan shot Seyoon a look of extreme exasperation, as if not understanding the significance of waxed floorboards was a huge fault that could not be forgiven. “Because,” he explained slowly, “You can do this!”

Immediately, he shot off into the distance. After a few steps, he planted his feet firmly on the ground and let his socks glide him along the floor until he slowly skidded to a stop a few seconds later. Seyoon blinked.

“Sock slides,” Byeongkwan beamed, turning back around. Yoochan whooped in giddy joy and slid off after him. 

“Sock slides,” repeated Seyoon in disbelief. “Sock slides. How old are you, again?”

“Twenty. Come on, join us!”

Seyoon laughed and shook his head, turning back around to ignore the two idiots wearing out their energy in the hallway. Byeongkwan slid by at that moment, swinging a hand out and clutching tightly onto the back of Seyoon’s shirt. 

“Wha – ”

“Have some fun for once in your life, Kim Seyoon!” Seyoon found himself being dragged out into the hallway, Donghun watching in amusement from the comfort of the bed as he stumbled and tripped after Byeongkwan. “You’re not going to die from doing some sock slides.”

Seyoon wrenched himself free from Byeongkwan’s grasp, hurrying to straighten his shirt out. He opened his mouth indignantly to protest, but Yoochan instantly hurried over as well, eyes sparkling. “You should try it, Seyoon,” he said. “You can actually slide really far on waxed floors.”

Seyoon looked at Yoochan’s bright face and sighed, shooting Byeongkwan a dirty look before turning back to Yoochan with a face of resigned surrender. “Show me how.” Byeongkwan beamed at him.

“Well, first, you have to take off your slippers,” said Yoochan, and Seyoon kicked them off to the side. “And then, well, you just run -” Yoochan abruptly took off down the hallway, thudding feet moving into a slide once he had gained enough momentum. “And then you slide!”

Seyoon watched as the other boy glided on the floor, smiling happily as his socks slid a surprisingly far distance before slowly coming to a stop. He felt someone grab onto his wrist and barely had a chance to make a sound before Byeongkwan was pulling him again. 

“Run with me,” he said, tugging at his wrist.

“I know how to run,” Seyoon grumbled, but let himself be dragged along anyway. Yoochan waited on the other end of the hallway, eyes dancing mirthfully. 

Byeongkwan slowed down a bit so that he was side-by-side with Seyoon. “On three, slide, okay?” Seyoon nodded. “One, two...three!”

He couldn’t remember the last time he had done something so silly, but he couldn’t even bring himself to care as he slid down the long hallway. Suddenly, he was six years old again, carelessly sliding around wooden floors in the dining room, much to the exasperation of his mother. From inside the hotel room, Donghun shook his head and returned his gaze to his phone screen, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Who knew he’d live to see the day when Kim Seyoon went sock sliding?

Seyoon felt himself slowing down, and he and Byeongkwan became a stumbling, giggling mess as they tripped and staggered to a stop, Byeongkwan’s hand still encircled around Seyoon’s wrist. 

“That’s more like it,” Yoochan laughed as he bounded up to the two of them. “Now, _this_ is what I imagined going on tour would be like.”

\-------------

Junhee walked down the aisles and aisles of food, stopping in front of a shelf of snacks. He absent-mindedly tossed a few bags of potato chips in his basket.

Every time he thought about Donghun, which was all the time, he felt a worried ache in his chest. Donghun had never been very forward with his emotions, but having known the other for two years made Junhee very good at reading him, and he could tell that something was wrong. Donghun never actively ignored him like this. Sure, he still smiled and talked as usual, but it was always Junhee who started the conversation, and always Donghun who ended it. Something was definitely off about him, and it worried Junhee. He heaved a deep sigh.

“Girlfriend troubles?”

“Huh?” Junhee snapped out of his trance and saw an old woman staring sympathetically at him and his basketful of junk food. 

“Girlfriend troubles?” She repeated, and Junhee noticed that she was speaking Korean with a heavy Chinese accent. 

“How’d you know I was Korean?” He asked curiously. The old lady chuckled. 

“It’s not hard to tell,” she said, gesturing at him. “Look at the way you’re dressed. Now, tell me about this girl who’s making you so sad.”

“I-it’s nothing,” sighed Junhee, grabbing another can of Pringles off the shelf and throwing it into his basket. “It’s just, I have this friend, and I think I did something wrong, but I don’t know what it was. It’s nothing. It’s stupid. I’m probably overreacting.” 

“Well, dear,” said the old lady, smiling knowingly. “I think the best thing to do is just talk it out. Remember, never go to bed angry. Communication is key to a good relationship.”

“Oh, no, it’s not like that – ”

“I hope everything works out with this _friend_ of yours.” She winked. 

“No, seriously, it’s not – ”

But the old lady had already turned her back and left, leaving Junhee standing in the middle of the aisle clutching onto his basket, bewildered. 

“What?” He grumbled to himself, lugging his things towards the check-out counter. “Hun _is_ a friend. Weird old woman.”

The girl behind the cash register huffed annoyingly at him as he fumbled around with his change, struggling to identify the different currency. He flashed an apologetic smile at her, and her eyes widened a bit as she reached up vaguely to touch her hair. Junhee, of course, took absolutely no notice of her fluster, because he couldn’t figure out if the coin he was holding was a 10 cent or a 5 cent. 

Waving a quick goodbye to the now cheery cashier, Junhee stepped out onto the busy street, clutching a large black plastic bag filled with snacks in his right hand. He set off back in the direction of the hotel.

Donghun was never upset with him. Annoyed, sure, but that was only when he wanted to nag Junhee, and it was always endearing when he did that. But to be genuinely upset with him? It had only happened once before, in the two years that they had known each other. 

It was a few months after they had met, back when they knew each other by name and face but nothing else. In the entertainment world, it was every man for himself, so it wasn’t easy to make friends with a fellow trainee because fellow trainees meant competition. 

Lee Donghun himself was very familiar with competition. Junhee could tell. A few days after arriving at King Ent, he had heard how the older trainee had been there for many years, even being part of the original lineup for NOVA but ultimately not selected. He didn’t know much else about him, since he didn’t seem to talk very much, but he could feel a bottled-up resentment coming from the other trainee, and so he stayed away from him. 

He could see it in his eyes every month at evaluations.

Junhee didn’t do well with performing. He had always had that problem, ever since he was a young child – his mother had put him in piano lessons, and once he had been so nervous during a recital he had accidentally wet himself right on the piano bench. He’d been teased about it for years afterward, and so he wasn’t exactly the best at managing stage fright. 

Lee Donghun never showed that he was nervous – he was too stupidly stubborn for that, but eventually Junhee noticed anyway, because he could see it in his eyes. Donghun was terrified. It was a terror that Junhee couldn’t even imagine, one that could only be experienced by someone who had invested many, many years into their dream, only to have it possibly be taken all away with one bad assessment. 

It had been December. The King Ent. staff members had requested a lot for that evaluation, it being the last one of the year. The trainees were required to prepare a vocal solo, a dance solo, and a team performance, and they only had a week to prepare it. 

Junhee wasn’t too worried. Nervous, yes, but not worried. He had breezed through all the other evaluations so far, so there was no reason for this one to be any different. He had been put on a team with Donghun and three other trainees, and together they met up every day to prepare for their performance. He had been new then, unaware of how cutthroat the industry was, and perhaps it was his attitude, or perhaps it was his lackluster presentation in the practice room, but it seemed to really get on Donghun’s nerves. Junhee hadn’t noticed. 

“Hey, Park Junhee,” Donghun sighed, breaking formation to pause the music again. “You keep getting the steps wrong. It’s right side first, and then double left.”

“Sorry,” Junhee grinned. “Maybe sixth time’s the charm?”

He couldn’t lie, his heart wasn’t in it. What was the point of trying so hard, when every day more and more people got accepted into the company? At least he had connections. He was already a step ahead of everyone else, and he doubted he would get cut from one mediocre evaluation just a few months after being scouted. It was every man for himself, after all. 

Donghun just shook his head and played the music without another word. 

When evaluation day rolled around, Junhee was finally starting to feel the anxiety creeping into his mind and spreading throughout his body, making his heart race and his hands cold. He didn’t like anyone seeing him in this state. The rest of his team was meeting in the practice room for some last-minute revisions, but being surrounded by a bunch of anxious, sweaty trainees was the very last thing he needed at the moment, so he had crept away to a secluded piano room and locked himself in. 

_Sorry, guys. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to hide._

His team’s performance was scheduled to start in thirty minutes. He sat in the corner of the piano room, knees against his chest, eyes closed and taking deep breaths in and out. In and out. It’ll be fine. In and out. It’ll be over in a bit. In and out. You’ll have fun when you’re actually up there.

His phone buzzed, pulling him out of his trance with a start. He glanced at it. 

**\---Tuesday, December 15, 11:52 AM---**  
**Lee Donghun:** Where are you?? We’re up next. 

_Oh, shit._ Junhee scrambled out from the room, hurrying over to the hallway where the others were impatiently waiting. Donghun stood up from his seat, eyes blazing. 

“Hey, Park Junhee, nice of you to show up,” he said flatly. 

“Hey, listen, I’m really – ”

“Save it.” Donghun rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. “They’ll be calling us any minute now.”

Junhee bit his lip guiltily as the other team members all shot him dirty looks. He felt terrible, but hopefully this wouldn’t affect his team’s performance.

He could not have been more wrong. Shortly after they began, he missed the timing on one of the formation changes, which led to lots of colliding of shoulders, stepping on each other’s’ feet, and just overall disaster. After that none of them could concentrate, and by the time the routine had ended, Junhee hung his head low in shame to avoid the disappointed look on the CEO’s face. 

“I have nothing to say to you,” he said grimly, setting his pen down on the table. “You’ll have your results in a week.”

Junhee turned to the others the moment they stepped out of the room and back into the hallway. “Listen, I can explain – ”

“There is _nothing_ to explain.” Donghun, who had been holding in his anger and irritation for the entire past week, finally exploded, and Junhee flinched at his steely tone. “ _You_ screwed us over in there, Junhee. _You_ didn’t try all week, _you_ didn’t show up to practice today, and _you_ made all the mistakes during our evaluation, but that’s okay! That’s okay, right, because _you_ definitely won’t be kicked out! You’re the golden boy! You’re Kim Seokjin’s cousin! You have immunity in this stupid company!”

Donghun had backed Junhee into the wall. At the mention of Seokjin’s name, Junhee bristled. “Hey, don’t you dare say that – ” he started, but Donghun cut him off.

“Well I couldn’t care less about what happens to you,” he glowered, jabbing a finger into Junhee’s chest. “But I can’t believe you would be selfish enough to drag your entire team down with you. We’re not like you, all right? We don’t have the same perks that you do.”

Junhee opened his mouth to retort, but Donghun wasn’t finished. 

“And you know what? I’m not even surprised that the rumours are true. You really are just an arrogant, egotistical asshole, Park Junhee, and you don’t care about anyone but yourself. If I get kicked out after this, the one upside would be that I no longer have to share a company with _you_!”

He stormed off, footsteps echoing loudly throughout the halls, leaving a stunned Junhee in his wake. The other three team members glanced at him, some sympathetically, others in anger, before leaving as well, and Junhee sank down against the wall with a hand clutched against his chest where Donghun’s finger was. 

Junhee and Donghun had ended up being the only two members from their team to have stayed in the company after that evaluation. Donghun must have worked incredibly hard on his solo evaluations, and his good performance as well as his seniority kept him as a King Ent trainee. Reluctant as he was to admit it about himself, Junhee acknowledged that there must have been a little bias involved in the decision to keep him as well. After all, he had been the one to make all the fumbles and slip ups during their group performance, and his solos were good, but not outstanding. Donghun had been right. He did have immunity. 

Donghun had refused to talk to him for weeks after the incident. Whenever they passed by each other in the company building, Donghun would promptly turn around and head in the opposite direction without a second glance. Feeling awful, Junhee had sent texts, letters, and even a desperate box of chocolates to the other trainee, but his attempts were all completely ignored. And so Junhee threw himself into his training, working tirelessly day and night to improve himself and to finally develop the proper trainee mindset. 

It had taken a month for Donghun to talk to him again. The trainees were putting on a show for some visitors at the company, and as usual, Junhee found himself curled up into a ball in the corner of a dressing room, eyes squeezed tight and rocking back and forth in a trance. He had felt a cautious hand on his shoulder and had jolted, wide, scared eyes lifting to meet the surprised ones of Lee Donghun. 

Junhee realized that day that Lee Donghun was the kindest soul he had ever met, and when the other heaved a sigh and bent down to wipe Junhee’s face clean, he decided that he would dedicate the rest of his life to never seeing Donghun upset again. 

\-------------

“Hey, Junjun.”

Junhee looked up at the sound of Seokjin’s voice. They were on their way back to the hotel, having stuffed themselves to the point of exploding with Chinese food at a nearby fancy restaurant. Seokjin bounded up beside him, the bag of snacks dangling from his right arm. “What’s up?”

Seokjin looked around before leaning closer to Junhee. “Did something happen between you and Donghun?”

“What?” Junhee blinked at him and shook his head, eyebrows furrowed. “No. Why would you say that?”

Seokjin shrugged. “Something seemed weird at dinner. Like, you guys weren’t talking to each other at all.”

“You noticed?” Junhee’s shoulders sank, his mood that had been lifted slightly by the food deflating again. If even Seokjin, who wasn’t even a member of their dance group, had noticed, then it must have meant he wasn’t just imagining it, even if he desperately wished it was so.

“Hey, you all right?” Seokjin slung an arm around his younger cousin’s shoulder. “I know how close you and Donghun are. What happened?” Junhee sighed.

“I don’t know, Jinjin,” he said, leaning his weight against the older boy. “I didn’t do anything, but all of a sudden Hun just started ignoring me and avoiding me. It’s stressing me out. Should I apologize?”

Seokjin pursed his lips, switching his gaze from Junhee back to the road in front of them as they began to cross the street. From behind the crosswalk, car engines hummed angrily, each one waiting eagerly to be the first to rev up again when the light turned green. Junhee let his eyes drift over to Donghun, who was walking silently beside Manager Kim. He had not said an entire word throughout dinner, which, although not terribly uncharacteristic of him, made him stand out immensely among the busy chattering and celebrating. Usually, Junhee would be the one to help include Donghun in the conversations, throwing the other boy casual openers and questions. Tonight, however, Donghun had prevented all attempts before dinner even began by sitting on the opposite end of the table as Junhee, way too far for the two of them to comfortably talk to each other. 

“I think you should just talk to him,” said Seokjin. “Corner him, and just talk face to face. There’s no use avoiding one another.”

Junhee pouted, not exactly happy with this advice. He hated conflict. “I guess you’re right. I’ll try.”

“Cheer up, Junjun,” Seokjin grinned, ruffling Junhee’s hair. “You guys are practically soulmates. It’ll work out in the end.”

“Seokjin!” Hoya called out from behind them. “Get over here, I need you to tell Taemin that his shoes are hideous.”

“They are _not._ This is fashion.”

“You wouldn’t know fashion if it kicked you in the ass!”

Laughing, Seokjin detached himself from Junhee’s side. “Hey, thanks for the snacks,” he said, patting Junhee on the shoulder. “The guys and I really owe you.”

“Yeah, of course. Anytime.”

Seokjin flashed his cousin another smile before joining his teammates in their now heavy debate (“These are Gucci, bitch!”). Junhee continued walking forward on his own, deep in thought.

S-soulmates?

\-------------

Back at the hotel, the boys settled back into their rooms, exhausted from eating so much. Junhee barely set his coat down on his bed before heading next door, Yoochan trailing behind him. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and knocked. Moments later, a bleary-eyed Donghun opened the door. 

“Oh, hey, Yoochan. Junhee.”

Junhee offered Donghun a small smile, which the other did not reciprocate. He bit his lip. “Listen, Hun, can we talk? Privately, in my room?”

Donghun’s eyes wavered from Junhee’s face to Yoochan, who was letting himself slip past the two of them into the room, and then back to Junhee. He sighed.

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. Okay.”

They left quietly, letting the door click shut behind them. Junhee stuck his card into the card slot once they entered his room, and the lamps lining the tables and television stand blinked on. 

“Welcome to my crib,” Junhee joked weakly. “Probably looks exactly the same as your crib.”

Donghun paid him absolutely no attention as he kicked his shoes off and hopped onto Yoochan’s bed. Junhee nervously sat onto his own bed, facing the other boy. Neither of them wanted to start, and the two of them sat in awkward silence for a few seconds before Junhee cleared his throat. 

“I – I just want to know why you seem to be avoiding me. Have I done something to upset you?”

Donghun couldn’t meet his eyes. He stared resolutely at Junhee’s chin, chewing on the inside of his cheek. “I’m…not upset at you,” he murmured finally. “I don’t think I am, at least.”

At this, Junhee seemed to perk up. “You’re not mad at me?”

Donghun chuckled into his hand, muffling his mouth. “…could never be mad at you.”

“Then why aren’t you talking to me?” Junhee demanded, sitting up straighter. “You’ve barely said a single word to me this entire trip. We’re not even rooming together. We _always_ room together.”

“It _has_ been kind of weird,” admitted Donghun, picking at a loose thread on his jeans. “I can’t remember the last time we’ve been apart for this long.”

“So, why are we?” Junhee was beginning to get impatient. Why wasn’t Donghun answering his question? “Why are you being so distant?” 

“I’m not doing it on purpose! It’s just that, I don’t know, whenever I’m around you these days I get kind of…” Donghun trailed off, and Junhee nearly screamed. 

“Kind of what?”

“Kind of uncomfortable, I don’t know!” Donghun threw his hands up in surrender. “Junhee, why are we even friends?”

“What?” Junhee blinked, taken aback. He had not been expecting that question.

“Why are we even friends?” Donghun repeated. Junhee took a deep breath.

“Do…do you not want to be? Why are you asking me that?”

Donghun shook his head frantically. “No, of course not. I’m asking why _you_ would want to be friends with _me_. I’m…” He laughed sharply and bitterly, almost like a cross between a cough and an exhale. “I’m holding you back. You could do so much better.”

“ _What?_ ” In the blink of an eye, Junhee had joined Donghun on Yoochan’s bed, sitting cross-legged and staring intently at the other boy. Donghun still refused to meet his eye, looking anywhere except at him. “Hun, why would you even _think_ that?” He took the older boy’s hand and grasped it firmly. “You’re not allowed to think things like that.”

“Look at you, Junhee!” Donghun yanked his hand away. “You’re…perfect. You’re talented and kind and handsome, and everyone loves you. I’m like this gloomy cloud that follows you around wherever you go. I’m just a burden to you.”

“No you’re not,” said Junhee, almost angrily. “If that’s what you think I feel, then you don’t know me at all.” Donghun shrugged and looked away. “Hun, listen to me. I don’t feel that way about you at _all._ I think _you’re_ perfect. You’re patient and responsible, and every day I wish I could be half as caring as you are. I don’t even know what I’d be doing if I hadn’t met you. I – I can’t – I can’t imagine…” he trailed off, unsure if he wanted to finish his sentence.

“I can’t imagine life without you,” murmured Donghun, head buried in his arms. Junhee stared at him, and finally Donghun looked up, eyes meeting. “Me, too.”

“Oh, thank god,” Junhee breathed, finally letting a smile grace his lips. “I was afraid I’d scare you away if I said that.” Donghun smiled too, a small smile that was more of a grimace. 

“I am scared,” he whispered, and Junhee realized, as he looked at his friend with his knees tucked under his chin, that he had never seen Donghun look so small before. “I’m so scared, Junhee. I’ve never needed anybody, so how come I need you so much? I even tried distancing myself from you, but that just made me think about it more. What did you do to me?”

Junhee bit his lip, reaching out for Donghun’s hand again. This time, the other boy didn’t pull away. “I’m the opposite, Hun. I’ve always needed somebody.” He paused, then shook his head. “No, that’s not true. I’ve always needed _everybody_. But when you’re trying to get approval from everyone around you, in reality, you end up with nobody. No one who really knows you.”

Donghun stared down at their hands, a thoughtful expression on his face. “I needed nobody, and you needed everybody,” he said finally, a small smile on his face. “We’re not that different.” 

“No, we’re not,” Junhee agreed. He thought back to his previous conversation with Seokjin, making a mental note to thank his cousin for the advice the next time he saw him. “You know what Jinjin called us? Soulmates.” He had been a little terrified at the word at first, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized there was no better way to describe the two of them. Donghun’s eyes widened.

“Soulmates?” He repeated, and Junhee could see the cogs turning in the other boy’s head. “But…aren’t soulmates, like, dating?”

Junhee had thought about that, too, way more than he cared to admit on the walk back. Had Seokjin meant they were meant to be with one another, as boyfriends? He had never been able to place a finger on his preference his whole life. Throughout elementary school, he had a crush on the prettiest girl in the class, the one with the pigtails that always sat at the front of the classroom. He promptly received a shock in the seventh grade when that same fond feeling was transferred onto someone else, the new kid. A boy, with shiny, silver hair that constantly had his headphones on and sat in a seat at the back, next to the window. Junhee never told anyone. 

The more he thought about it, the more sense it made. He and Donghun were practically married already. He loved him, that much was certain. But perhaps it was a different kind of love than he had originally thought. 

He thought about all the times Donghun had been by his side before a performance, holding onto him and singing songs only he would ever get to hear. He thought about the feeling of loneliness and helplessness he got every time the other boy was not around. He thought about waking up each day, wondering what plans Donghun had, and going to sleep, thinking about what he’d do with Donghun tomorrow. 

By the time he had arrived back at the hotel, Junhee was ready to scream out loud, because how could he have not realized that this entire time, he was in love with his best friend?

He didn’t know if Donghun felt the same, though, and he wasn’t ready to know.

“It doesn’t have to be romantic soulmates,” he said tentatively. “It’s any two people that were meant to find each other, like you and me.”

Donghun processed this, nodding slowly. “Platonic soulmates. That makes sense. You know…this sounds really crazy, but… I don’t think I’d mind – ”

A loud crash echoed from the closet, and both of them jumped in surprise. Junhee, who had been leaning in eagerly to hear the end of Donghun’s sentence, cursed and hopped off the bed to check on the closet.

Donghun breathed out a long, deep sigh and flopped back onto the bed, wishing the soft pillows would absorb him so he could disappear. 

Junhee pulled the closet door open and yelped in shock, backing up a few steps until he was pressed against the wall. Inside the closet there crouched a girl, phone in hand and looking extremely annoyed. She looked young, no older than twenty, and from the way her clothes were dishevelled and her hair was sticking up in all angles, it was clear that she had been hiding in the closet for a while. Junhee blinked at her, not believing his eyes.

“Who – who are you?”

The girl’s eyes sparkled when she saw Junhee, and a big smile slowly spread on her face as she stood upright. “Wow…Park Junhee…You don’t know me now, but we’re going to be married one day.”

Donghun had hopped off the bed and walked over too. “What’s this?” He asked, narrowing his eyes. The smile immediately disappeared from the girl’s face when she laid eyes on him.

“Lee Donghun. Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? Fishing for compliments from Park Junhee like that. You know he’s lying, right?”

“What?” Junhee waved his arms around in protest. “No, I was telling the truth!”

The girl’s facial expression changed again as she looked back at Junhee. “Of course, you were, Junhee,” she said lovingly. “You would never lie. I’m your biggest fan. I love you so, so much. I went to all of NOVA’s concerts in Seoul just to see you, and I loved it so much that I flew here so I can keep going to your concerts. I just _had_ to meet you.” She stared reverently up at Junhee, slowly inching closer to him as she climbed out of the closet. Donghun’s eyes narrowed more when he noticed Junhee smiling slightly in response. 

“Oh, you’re a fan? It’s nice to meet you. I’m glad you enjoyed our concerts.”

“Um, excuse me?” Donghun cut in. “But what are you doing in our hotel? I could have you reported for trespassing and stalking, you know.”

The girl turned toward Donghun, a murderous glare on her face. “Lee Donghun. This is none of your business, so stop meddling around. I think you should stop hanging off Junhee like some sad dog and let him show his full potential.”

“Hey now,” Junhee chuckled nervously. “No need to talk like that. Hun’s my friend.”

“Junhee.” Donghun spoke to Junhee now, completely ignoring what the girl had said. “Call the police. We need to report this girl.”

“What?” Junhee’s eyes widened, and he scratched at his neck. “The police? Isn’t that a bit extreme?” He turned to the girl, who had her phone pointed at Junhee’s face, rapidly clicking away at her camera shutter. “Hey, uh, no pictures please! I love meeting fans, but Hun and I would really appreciate it if you didn’t visit us in our hotel rooms. Maybe wait for a fanmeet?” The girl swooned.

Donghun stared incredulously at Junhee. Was he being serious right now? “Okay, if you’re not calling the police, then I guess I have to do this myself.” He rolled his eyes and stepped forward, gently grabbing the girl by her elbow. “Come with me.”

“Wait! No!” The girl struggled against Donghun’s hold, looking back desperately at Junhee. “No, you have to let me stay! Please! Junhee, I love you! We’re meant to be together! Let me stay!”

Junhee stared helplessly as Donghun dragged her to the front door, throwing it open and shoving her out into the hallway. He pulled out a phone and snapped a picture of her. “Never break into our rooms again, do you hear me? Or I really will call the police next time.”

“Fuck you, Lee Donghun,” the girl spat, red lips curled downwards in an ugly scowl. Donghun slammed the door in her face. 

“Hey, good job, Hun! You dealt with that so professionally.”

Donghun was still facing the closed door, back turned to Junhee. Junhee looked curiously at him.

“Hun?”

Donghun slowly turned around, and Junhee gulped when he saw the blank expression on his face. He knew that look. It was the look that meant Donghun was absolutely furious.

Donghun walked slowly from the door up to Junhee, each step infuriatingly slow and calculated. Junhee eyed him warily as he finally stopped in front of him, taking a long, deep breath. “Uh, Hun, what – ”

“Hey, Park Junhee,” said Donghun, tilting his head to the side. “Are you dumb?”

“What?”

“Are you an idiot? Are you stupid?” With each word, the volume of his voice increased, until eventually Donghun stood in front of Junhee, yelling into his face. “Do you even realize what just happened?”

“H-hey, Hun,” Junhee laughed nervously, holding his hands out in front of him. Donghun had backed him all the way to the hotel wall. “Calm down. She’s gone now, no harm done.”

“ _No harm done?_ ” Donghun’s eyes widened to the size of saucers, pupils trembling. He took a deep breath, as if to ready himself, and then exploded.

“How _dare_ you even be smiling right now, Junhee? _No harm done?_ You don’t even realize what just happened, do you? You just got stalked, Junhee. You just got _stalked._ Someone found out where you live, broke in, and completely invaded your privacy. You’re lucky I was here, otherwise who knows what would have happened? She could’ve robbed you, attacked you, who knows? And imagine if you hadn’t found her! How long would she have stayed in that closet? Would she have stayed overnight? Even if you’re stupidly careless about yourself, Junhee, did you think about Yoochan? He would have been dragged into this mess too, all because of your stupidity, and god knows the poor, sweet boy doesn’t deserve that!” 

Donghun paused to catch his breath, but Junhee didn’t dare say anything. He just stood there, eyes wide, silent. 

“And honestly, Junhee, I’m getting sick of it,” Donghun continued, voice smaller this time. He shook his head. “I’m always the one looking after you, and picking up after your messes, and god, I care about you more than anything so I didn’t even care, but at some point, you’re going to have to learn to _grow up_ and realize that the world doesn’t revolve around you.”

“I never said – ”

“You pretend to care about everyone else, but that’s not true, is it?” Donghun crossed his arms. “You didn’t even _think_ that maybe your so-called fans aren’t all perfect little angels. You just like them because they like you, and that’s so messed up. You never even thought that maybe your perfect fans are the ones sending other people death threats every day? Sending _me_ death threats every day?”

“What?” Junhee gaped. “Donghun, I had no idea – ”

“Of course, you didn’t!” Donghun burst, throwing his hands in his hair. “You never cared! Every day, it’s all about Park Junhee with his perfect life and his perfect fans, and oh look, who’s that? Oh, Lee Donghun, his stupid, ugly friend.”

“Shut up!” Junhee bellowed, taking a step forward. “Hun, how many times do I have to tell you that’s not how I feel at all?”

“How can I believe you?” Donghun retorted, also taking a step forward until their noses were practically touching. “How can I believe you when it’s always me following you, cleaning your messes, trailing behind you like some kind of fucking shadow? You can’t even deal with your own sasaeng fans because you’re too selfish to admit that you like the attention they give you!”

Junhee’s ears burned red hot. “I never asked you to take care of me. You know what, if that’s how you really feel, then you’re more than welcome to fuck off. I’m not selfish enough to force you to be with me when you clearly don’t want to be.”

“Fine,” spat Donghun, crossing his arms. “I will _gladly_ fuck off. But for your sake, and for Yoochan’s sake, and for all our sakes, I really hope you get your shit together.”

Donghun spun on his heel and stormed out of the hotel room, slamming the door loudly on the way out. Junhee stood still for a few more seconds, chest rising up and down, before he exhaled loudly and closed his eyes. Legs finally giving out, he sank to the floor. 

So much for soulmates. 

\-------------

Donghun was met with three pairs of wide eyes when he entered the room. He sighed.

“You heard?”

The other three nodded slowly. “We have thin walls,” Byeongkwan explained weakly. Donghun ran a hand through his hair and fell down onto his bed with a loud groan.

_What do I do?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey hey hey!! guess who's back!!!
> 
> felt bad about it being another month and a half since the last update, so sit tight, this one's a long one :)  
> so many things have happened in the ace fandom that idek where to begin anymore!!!!! but who else is as proud as i am of our boys who are KILLING it on their shows (like we knew they would)?? 
> 
> as always thank you all for the kudos and comments, they mean the world!! also i officially changed my tumblr url to @kim-sehyooned to honour his spelling lol so hmu there if you wanna chat!!


End file.
